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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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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 · leaves · degree · tear · file · lean · stem · court

  1. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  8. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  9. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  10. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  11. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.

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

Answer key

  1. leaves — to go away
  2. tear — to rip
  3. degree — from a university
  4. stem — a stem cell
  5. stem — to come from
  6. court — for sport
  7. kick — a thrill
  8. kick — in football
  9. leaves — of a tree
  10. lean — to bend
  11. kick — with a leg
  12. court — of law
  13. lean — to rest against
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. tear — from crying
  16. file — a tool
  17. lean — thin
  18. file — a line of people
  19. degree — an amount
  20. degree — temperature
  21. court — of a king
  22. tear — from crying
  23. file — a document
  24. leaves — lets stay

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