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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 120 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: kid · chair · degree · scale · content · racket

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  13. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  14. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. content — happy
  3. chair — a leader
  4. scale — in music
  5. degree — from a university
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. content — the amount
  10. degree — temperature
  11. degree — an amount
  12. racket — a loud noise
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. scale — size or range
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. kid — child
  18. chair — a professorship

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