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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. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  2. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — for weighing
  2. lean — to rest against
  3. degree — temperature
  4. scale — size or range
  5. capital — a city
  6. degree — an amount
  7. scale — in music
  8. clip — a video
  9. tear — from crying
  10. spring — of water
  11. degree — from a university
  12. tear — to rip
  13. spring — a coil
  14. file — a tool
  15. lean — thin
  16. clip — to cut
  17. clip — for paper
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. tear — from crying
  20. file — a line of people
  21. capital — money
  22. file — a document
  23. lean — to bend
  24. spring — the season

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