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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.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
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: cold · lean · degree · band · file · ground · content · scale

  1. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — size or range
  2. lean — to rest against
  3. degree — an amount
  4. content — happy
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. scale — in music
  7. cold — not warm
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. file — a document
  10. content — the amount
  11. lean — thin
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. ground — a position
  14. band — a ring
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. band — a music group
  17. cold — an illness
  18. file — a tool
  19. ground — crushed
  20. file — a line of people
  21. ground — the earth
  22. degree — from a university
  23. degree — temperature
  24. lean — to bend

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