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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: shower · face · lie · chest · scale · degree · march · cell

  1. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  22. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  23. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — size or range
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. scale — for weighing
  4. march — the month
  5. cell — a phone
  6. lie — to recline
  7. chest — a box
  8. cell — in biology
  9. scale — in music
  10. degree — temperature
  11. march — music
  12. face — to point toward
  13. shower — rain
  14. face — to confront
  15. chest — of your body
  16. march — the month
  17. chest — of your body
  18. degree — an amount
  19. shower — to wash
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. lie — an untruth
  22. lie — an untruth
  23. face — part of the head
  24. degree — from a university

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