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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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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: kid · club · degree · scale · ground · rule · march · snap

  1. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  4. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. rule — to rule out
  2. degree — from a university
  3. club — for dancing
  4. club — for golf
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. ground — a position
  7. club — a group
  8. ground — the earth
  9. march — the month
  10. degree — temperature
  11. kid — to tease
  12. ground — crushed
  13. kid — child
  14. march — the month
  15. rule — government
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. rule — a law
  19. scale — size or range
  20. scale — in music
  21. snap — to click
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. march — music
  24. degree — an amount

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