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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: shower · land · fan · chest · degree · season · lash · file

  1. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  4. Did you ________________ the meat?
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. Spring is a pleasant ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. chest — a box
  3. lash — to lash out
  4. season — to add flavour
  5. shower — rain
  6. degree — temperature
  7. file — a tool
  8. chest — of your body
  9. lash — an eyelash
  10. degree — from a university
  11. lash — a whip stroke
  12. degree — an amount
  13. shower — to wash
  14. fan — to cool the air
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. season — in sport
  17. land — to come down
  18. file — a line of people
  19. file — a document
  20. land — a country
  21. chest — of your body
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. land — ground
  24. season — of the year

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