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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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Word bank
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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: scale · degree · bark · row · club · cell

  1. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  13. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. degree — an amount
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. cell — in biology
  5. degree — from a university
  6. row — a line
  7. scale — size or range
  8. degree — temperature
  9. club — for dancing
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. bark — to shout
  12. club — for golf
  13. club — a group
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. scale — in music
  17. row — to paddle
  18. scale — for weighing

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