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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: hand · shower · file · rest · degree · pit · lean · chair

  1. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  3. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  6. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  24. Boris sat near the fire ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. lean — to rest against
  3. pit — in a race
  4. degree — temperature
  5. pit — a fruit stone
  6. rest — a break
  7. degree — from a university
  8. degree — an amount
  9. lean — thin
  10. file — a line of people
  11. shower — rain
  12. rest — what's left
  13. hand — in cards
  14. shower — to wash
  15. file — a document
  16. lean — to bend
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. chair — a leader
  21. file — a tool
  22. hand — help
  23. rest — what's left
  24. pit — a hole

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