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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: kick · degree · chest · bulb · fan · cell · net · file

  1. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  19. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  20. The light ________________ burned out.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. I've got to change the light ________________.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. bulb — of a plant
  3. file — a line of people
  4. degree — temperature
  5. kick — with a leg
  6. cell — a phone
  7. degree — from a university
  8. file — a tool
  9. net — in sport
  10. fan — to cool the air
  11. cell — in biology
  12. chest — of your body
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. net — after costs
  15. file — a document
  16. kick — a thrill
  17. chest — a box
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. kick — in football
  20. bulb — for light
  21. chest — of your body
  22. bulb — for light
  23. degree — an amount
  24. net — for catching

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