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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 120 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: degree · mate · race · wound · scale · kid · hide · nail

  1. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. Have you found your soul ________________?
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. The ________________ went through the wall.
  15. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. race — humankind
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. race — the arms race
  7. mate — a partner
  8. wound — an injury
  9. degree — temperature
  10. scale — in music
  11. kid — to tease
  12. scale — size or range
  13. race — a contest
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. wound — an injury
  17. mate — to breed
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. nail — on a finger
  20. kid — child
  21. degree — an amount
  22. mate — a friend
  23. degree — from a university
  24. hide — animal skin

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