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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: bat · cold · scale · degree · pound · fall · hide · file

  1. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  19. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — a weight
  2. bat — the animal
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. file — a line of people
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. hide — animal skin
  8. scale — in music
  9. fall — to drop
  10. degree — temperature
  11. degree — an amount
  12. fall — to drop
  13. degree — from a university
  14. file — a document
  15. cold — an illness
  16. cold — not warm
  17. scale — size or range
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. file — a tool
  21. pound — for dogs
  22. fall — the season
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. pound — to hit hard

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