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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: degree · game · stock · plane · mine · cold · scale · squash

  1. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. The ________________ took off on time.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  24. 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. game — a kind of play
  2. scale — size or range
  3. squash — to crush
  4. degree — an amount
  5. game — wild animals
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. degree — from a university
  8. plane — a tool
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. mine — for digging
  11. plane — an aircraft
  12. scale — in music
  13. stock — shares
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. plane — in geometry
  17. cold — not warm
  18. game — a match
  19. degree — temperature
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. cold — an illness
  22. squash — the sport
  23. stock — goods
  24. 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