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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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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: shower · bank · degree · clip · file · rest · kick · tear

  1. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  6. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  7. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  8. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. shower — rain
  3. kick — with a leg
  4. file — a tool
  5. bank — for money
  6. rest — a break
  7. bank — of a river
  8. rest — what's left
  9. clip — to cut
  10. clip — for paper
  11. bank — for money
  12. tear — from crying
  13. degree — from a university
  14. kick — a thrill
  15. file — a document
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. clip — a video
  18. shower — to wash
  19. rest — what's left
  20. tear — to rip
  21. degree — temperature
  22. file — a line of people
  23. degree — an amount
  24. kick — in football

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