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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: scale · march · club · degree · mark · hand · bowl · ground

  1. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  3. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  10. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  11. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. mark — to pay attention
  3. mark — a trace
  4. ground — crushed
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. bowl — a football final
  7. scale — in music
  8. scale — size or range
  9. club — for golf
  10. club — for dancing
  11. bowl — a dish
  12. march — music
  13. club — a group
  14. hand — in cards
  15. ground — the earth
  16. march — the month
  17. ground — a position
  18. degree — from a university
  19. degree — temperature
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. mark — a grade
  22. march — the month
  23. hand — help
  24. degree — an amount

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