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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: wake · degree · spell · chip · season · land · scale · racket

  1. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  13. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  14. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  15. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  16. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  17. How do you ________________ your surname?
  18. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. Did you ________________ the meat?
  22. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. degree — an amount
  3. scale — for weighing
  4. land — to come down
  5. season — of the year
  6. degree — from a university
  7. land — ground
  8. spell — a short time
  9. scale — size or range
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. degree — temperature
  12. racket — a loud noise
  13. chip — for betting
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. chip — to eat
  16. racket — for tennis
  17. spell — letters
  18. season — in sport
  19. scale — in music
  20. spell — magic
  21. season — to add flavour
  22. chip — in a computer
  23. wake — a trail
  24. land — a country

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