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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 · shower · degree · chair · branch · vault · clip · perch

  1. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  11. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. scale — for weighing
  3. clip — for paper
  4. branch — a division
  5. degree — an amount
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. vault — in gymnastics
  9. shower — to wash
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. vault — a safe
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. clip — to cut
  14. chair — a leader
  15. shower — rain
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. degree — temperature
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. vault — an arched ceiling
  21. degree — from a university
  22. scale — size or range
  23. scale — in music
  24. clip — a video

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