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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: march · mouse · bat · tube · scale · degree · root · land

  1. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. tube — a container
  3. march — the month
  4. land — ground
  5. scale — in music
  6. land — to come down
  7. mouse — the animal
  8. degree — temperature
  9. scale — size or range
  10. tube — in a tire
  11. march — the month
  12. degree — an amount
  13. root — of a word
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. root — the cause
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. root — of a plant
  19. march — music
  20. mouse — the animal
  21. land — a country
  22. mouse — for a computer
  23. bat — the animal
  24. degree — from a university

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