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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: straw · degree · date · race · march · toast · clip · scale

  1. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  13. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  14. Have you settled on a ________________?
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — for weighing
  2. clip — a video
  3. march — the month
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. race — humankind
  6. degree — from a university
  7. degree — an amount
  8. scale — size or range
  9. degree — temperature
  10. toast — a drink to someone
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. toast — bread
  13. toast — the most admired
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. date — the fruit
  16. march — the month
  17. clip — for paper
  18. scale — in music
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. clip — to cut
  22. race — the arms race
  23. race — a contest
  24. march — music

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