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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 120 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: season · hand · staff · degree · shower · row · scale · vault

  1. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  7. Did you ________________ the meat?
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  11. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  18. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. degree — from a university
  3. degree — temperature
  4. vault — an arched ceiling
  5. degree — an amount
  6. vault — a safe
  7. season — to add flavour
  8. row — a line
  9. hand — in cards
  10. season — of the year
  11. season — in sport
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. staff — employees
  15. shower — to wash
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. vault — in gymnastics
  18. staff — a stick
  19. scale — size or range
  20. hand — help
  21. shower — rain
  22. staff — employees
  23. scale — in music
  24. row — to paddle

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