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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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468
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: file · hand · degree · straw · pitch · net · hide · fork

  1. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  2. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  16. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. fork — in a road
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. degree — an amount
  5. hide — animal skin
  6. hand — in cards
  7. file — a tool
  8. file — a line of people
  9. degree — temperature
  10. net — in sport
  11. file — a document
  12. net — for catching
  13. hand — help
  14. net — after costs
  15. pitch — a sports field
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. pitch — completely
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. pitch — a sales talk
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. degree — from a university
  24. straw — dry grass

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