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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 · wound · chip · bass · hand · tear · degree · bulb

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. The light ________________ burned out.
  3. I've got to change the light ________________.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  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. degree — an amount
  2. bulb — for light
  3. bulb — for light
  4. scale — size or range
  5. bass — the fish
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. degree — from a university
  8. bass — the instrument
  9. wound — an injury
  10. hand — help
  11. chip — for betting
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. bass — low music
  14. scale — in music
  15. tear — from crying
  16. chip — in a computer
  17. degree — temperature
  18. wound — an injury
  19. chip — to eat
  20. tear — to rip
  21. bulb — of a plant
  22. tear — from crying
  23. hand — in cards
  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