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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 120 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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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: wind · chair · degree · pit · branch · cabinet · kick · file

  1. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  11. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  12. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  13. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  14. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. What do you think of the new ________________?
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — ministers
  2. chair — a leader
  3. file — a tool
  4. degree — an amount
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. pit — a hole
  9. wind — moving air
  10. pit — a fruit stone
  11. kick — a thrill
  12. branch — of a bank
  13. cabinet — a cupboard
  14. kick — in football
  15. degree — from a university
  16. wind — moving air
  17. kick — with a leg
  18. file — a line of people
  19. branch — a division
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. degree — temperature
  23. file — a document
  24. pit — in a race

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