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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: clip · ground · fork · scale · rash · hand · degree · swing

  1. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  2. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. Don't do anything ________________.
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. David sat on the ________________.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — a series
  2. scale — for weighing
  3. ground — a position
  4. rash — hasty
  5. scale — in music
  6. ground — crushed
  7. rash — on the skin
  8. swing — in golf
  9. scale — size or range
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. degree — temperature
  12. clip — a video
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. hand — help
  16. fork — in a road
  17. degree — from a university
  18. degree — an amount
  19. clip — for paper
  20. swing — to play on
  21. hand — in cards
  22. swing — music
  23. clip — to cut
  24. ground — the earth

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