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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: press · degree · race · cold · scale · chair

  1. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Did you ________________ the button?
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  9. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  10. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. race — humankind
  3. scale — for weighing
  4. cold — an illness
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. press — to push
  7. race — the arms race
  8. press — newspapers
  9. press — a publisher
  10. scale — size or range
  11. chair — a leader
  12. degree — from a university
  13. scale — in music
  14. degree — an amount
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. cold — not warm
  17. race — a contest
  18. chair — to sit on

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