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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 116 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: file · lean · bat · staff · kid · bore · hand · degree

  1. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  13. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  14. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  20. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  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. bore — gave birth
  2. hand — in cards
  3. lean — to bend
  4. bat — the animal
  5. kid — child
  6. staff — employees
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. degree — temperature
  9. hand — help
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. kid — to tease
  12. lean — thin
  13. lean — to rest against
  14. bore — to drill
  15. file — a tool
  16. staff — a stick
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. degree — from a university
  19. bore — to tire
  20. staff — employees
  21. degree — an amount
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. file — a line of people
  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