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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 120 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 · chair · spring · trunk · mate · degree · cell · net

  1. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. Have you found your soul ________________?
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a tree
  2. chair — a leader
  3. spring — of water
  4. degree — temperature
  5. file — a line of people
  6. mate — a friend
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. net — after costs
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. degree — an amount
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. net — for catching
  13. mate — a partner
  14. file — a document
  15. mate — to breed
  16. cell — a phone
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. net — in sport
  20. degree — from a university
  21. cell — in biology
  22. file — a tool
  23. spring — a coil
  24. spring — the season

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