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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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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: mate · degree · land · trunk · chip · file · kick · lie

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  6. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  7. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  8. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  15. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  21. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. mate — a partner
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. file — a line of people
  5. kick — in football
  6. kick — with a leg
  7. mate — a friend
  8. chip — to eat
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. lie — an untruth
  11. file — a document
  12. mate — to breed
  13. land — ground
  14. chip — in a computer
  15. chip — for betting
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. lie — to recline
  18. degree — from a university
  19. land — a country
  20. kick — a thrill
  21. lie — an untruth
  22. file — a tool
  23. degree — temperature
  24. land — to come down

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