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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 112 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  11. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — in music
  2. degree — from a university
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. degree — an amount
  7. tear — to rip
  8. row — to paddle
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. stem — of a plant
  11. stem — to come from
  12. row — a line
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. tear — from crying
  15. tear — from crying
  16. degree — temperature
  17. scale — size or range
  18. bat — the animal

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