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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 · cold · deal · foot · mate · clip · degree · scale

  1. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  6. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  19. Have you found your soul ________________?
  20. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  21. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. degree — an amount
  3. shower — rain
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. foot — a measure
  6. foot — part of the body
  7. cold — an illness
  8. deal — an agreement
  9. clip — a video
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. scale — size or range
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. deal — a big deal
  14. mate — to breed
  15. clip — to cut
  16. degree — from a university
  17. clip — for paper
  18. deal — to handle
  19. mate — a partner
  20. foot — the bottom
  21. mate — a friend
  22. cold — not warm
  23. scale — in music
  24. shower — to wash

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