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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: face · scale · straw · race · pop · wake · tear · degree

  1. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. You don't need to ________________ round.
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — music
  2. pop — soda
  3. race — the arms race
  4. degree — an amount
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. degree — temperature
  7. pop — to visit
  8. wake — a trail
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. face — to point toward
  14. race — humankind
  15. scale — in music
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. tear — to rip
  18. face — part of the head
  19. face — to confront
  20. tear — from crying
  21. race — a contest
  22. scale — size or range
  23. tear — from crying
  24. degree — from a university

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