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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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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: bound · row · ruler · hand · degree · mine · content · scale

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  4. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. That was ________________ to happen.
  17. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  18. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. degree — an amount
  3. row — to paddle
  4. bound — tied together
  5. degree — temperature
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. hand — help
  8. ruler — a monarch
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. ruler — for measuring
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. hand — in cards
  14. content — the amount
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. bound — certain
  17. ruler — for measuring
  18. bound — obliged
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. row — a line
  21. scale — in music
  22. degree — from a university
  23. mine — for digging
  24. scale — size or range

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