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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: scale · mine · degree · rule · tear · arm · clip · file

  1. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  11. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. My father caught me by the ________________.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — in music
  2. clip — for paper
  3. file — a tool
  4. degree — an amount
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. degree — from a university
  7. rule — government
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. tear — from crying
  10. arm — a part of something
  11. rule — a law
  12. scale — size or range
  13. degree — temperature
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. file — a line of people
  16. rule — to rule out
  17. clip — a video
  18. file — a document
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. tear — to rip
  21. clip — to cut
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. tear — from crying
  24. mine — for digging

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