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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: kick · file · cold · date · rule · track · degree · roll

  1. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  3. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  4. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  5. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  6. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  7. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  14. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  15. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. Have you settled on a ________________?
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. We're on a ________________ here.
  24. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. rule — to rule out
  3. date — the fruit
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. track — a song
  6. track — a path
  7. kick — with a leg
  8. degree — from a university
  9. roll — a list
  10. file — a tool
  11. cold — an illness
  12. degree — an amount
  13. track — to keep track
  14. rule — government
  15. roll — a cake
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. degree — temperature
  18. kick — in football
  19. cold — not warm
  20. file — a document
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. file — a line of people
  23. roll — on a roll
  24. rule — a law

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