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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 116 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: file · degree · fall · scale · club · race

  1. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. club — for golf
  3. scale — in music
  4. degree — an amount
  5. file — a tool
  6. fall — to drop
  7. degree — from a university
  8. race — humankind
  9. fall — to drop
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. club — for dancing
  12. fall — the season
  13. file — a line of people
  14. file — a document
  15. club — a group
  16. scale — size or range
  17. race — a contest
  18. race — the arms race

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