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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: mate · degree · snap · chest · wound · scale · saw · lean

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  24. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. mate — a partner
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. saw — past of 'see'
  5. snap — to click
  6. wound — an injury
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. chest — a box
  9. mate — a friend
  10. scale — in music
  11. chest — of your body
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. chest — of your body
  14. mate — to breed
  15. degree — from a university
  16. saw — the tool
  17. lean — thin
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. degree — temperature
  20. scale — size or range
  21. saw — the tool
  22. wound — an injury
  23. lean — to bend
  24. lean — to rest against

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