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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: wind · press · lie · file · saw · spell · kick · degree

  1. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  5. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  17. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  18. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  19. He works in a ________________ mill.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. How do you ________________ your surname?
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. spell — magic
  3. degree — from a university
  4. press — newspapers
  5. lie — to recline
  6. file — a document
  7. degree — an amount
  8. lie — an untruth
  9. file — a tool
  10. kick — a thrill
  11. press — to push
  12. lie — an untruth
  13. wind — moving air
  14. degree — temperature
  15. file — a line of people
  16. kick — with a leg
  17. press — a publisher
  18. saw — past of 'see'
  19. saw — the tool
  20. wind — moving air
  21. spell — letters
  22. spell — a short time
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. kick — in football

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