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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: chest · mine · wound · rock · file · craft · mouse · degree

  1. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  10. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  11. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  12. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  20. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. Should I buy a wireless ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. file — a line of people
  3. chest — a box
  4. wound — an injury
  5. craft — boats
  6. chest — of your body
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. mine — for digging
  9. craft — a handicraft
  10. rock — a stone
  11. mouse — the animal
  12. rock — to move gently
  13. chest — of your body
  14. degree — from a university
  15. file — a tool
  16. file — a document
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. degree — an amount
  19. mouse — the animal
  20. craft — a skill
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. wound — an injury
  23. degree — temperature
  24. mouse — for a computer

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