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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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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: lean · degree · temple · file · straw · cell · jam · land

  1. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  9. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. When was this ________________ built?
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. lean — to bend
  3. degree — an amount
  4. land — ground
  5. land — to come down
  6. jam — to spread on bread
  7. file — a line of people
  8. temple — a place of worship
  9. jam — in traffic
  10. lean — to rest against
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. temple — side of the head
  13. file — a tool
  14. cell — in biology
  15. degree — temperature
  16. degree — from a university
  17. jam — a tight spot
  18. land — a country
  19. cell — a phone
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. temple — a place of worship
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. file — a document

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