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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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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. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. We're on a ________________ here.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  16. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. The ________________ went through the wall.
  21. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — size or range
  2. chest — of your body
  3. chest — of your body
  4. nail — on a finger
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. drill — a practice
  7. chest — a box
  8. degree — from a university
  9. scale — in music
  10. roll — on a roll
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. sharp — clever
  13. bass — low music
  14. degree — temperature
  15. roll — a cake
  16. roll — a list
  17. bass — the fish
  18. degree — an amount
  19. drill — army training
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. bass — the instrument
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. drill — the tool
  24. nail — for a hammer

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