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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: rush · fan · rest · file · face · degree · hand · last

  1. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. That must've been a ________________.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  11. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  12. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  13. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. degree — an amount
  3. rest — what's left
  4. degree — temperature
  5. last — finally
  6. rush — a thrill
  7. degree — from a university
  8. rush — hurry
  9. file — a tool
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. rush — to hurry
  12. rest — what's left
  13. rest — a break
  14. hand — in cards
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. face — part of the head
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. fan — to cool the air
  19. file — a line of people
  20. last — to go on
  21. last — final
  22. file — a document
  23. face — to point toward
  24. hand — help

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com