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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: lean · scale · file · pop · degree · fall · wound · kid

  1. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. We're almost out of ________________.
  13. You don't need to ________________ round.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  17. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. lean — to bend
  4. pop — music
  5. wound — an injury
  6. file — a tool
  7. scale — size or range
  8. degree — from a university
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. file — a document
  11. scale — in music
  12. pop — soda
  13. pop — to visit
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. degree — temperature
  16. fall — to drop
  17. lean — thin
  18. file — a line of people
  19. kid — to tease
  20. kid — child
  21. lean — to rest against
  22. fall — the season
  23. degree — an amount
  24. wound — an injury

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