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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: rash · tear · scale · branch · degree · net · content · fork

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  16. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. Don't do anything ________________.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. tear — from crying
  3. fork — in a road
  4. scale — size or range
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. degree — from a university
  7. content — the amount
  8. branch — of a tree
  9. content — happy
  10. net — in sport
  11. tear — from crying
  12. net — after costs
  13. degree — temperature
  14. tear — to rip
  15. fork — to eat with
  16. rash — a series
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. rash — hasty
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. branch — a division
  21. scale — in music
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. net — for catching
  24. fork — a garden tool

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