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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: degree · kick · file · race · chair · bear · can · band

  1. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  14. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  22. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. A black ________________ roamed the forest.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. bear — the animal
  3. race — humankind
  4. chair — a leader
  5. degree — an amount
  6. file — a tool
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. bear — to put up with
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. kick — with a leg
  11. band — a music group
  12. race — a contest
  13. can — a tin
  14. kick — in football
  15. band — a ring
  16. race — the arms race
  17. file — a document
  18. degree — from a university
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. file — a line of people
  21. can — to be able to
  22. can — a tin
  23. degree — temperature
  24. bear — the animal

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