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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
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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: drill · degree · tear · chest · net · scale · rash · file

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. Don't do anything ________________.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. chest — of your body
  3. file — a tool
  4. scale — size or range
  5. net — for catching
  6. drill — army training
  7. net — in sport
  8. tear — from crying
  9. rash — a series
  10. degree — temperature
  11. tear — to rip
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. drill — the tool
  14. degree — from a university
  15. drill — a practice
  16. tear — from crying
  17. chest — a box
  18. rash — on the skin
  19. file — a line of people
  20. rash — hasty
  21. file — a document
  22. chest — of your body
  23. net — after costs
  24. scale — in music

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