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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: leaves · content · scale · present · fork · tube · kid · degree

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  8. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  24. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. content — happy
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. leaves — of a tree
  6. tube — the underground
  7. tube — in a tire
  8. leaves — lets stay
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. degree — from a university
  11. present — a gift
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. leaves — to go away
  14. content — the amount
  15. degree — temperature
  16. fork — in a road
  17. kid — to tease
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. scale — in music
  20. tube — a container
  21. scale — size or range
  22. kid — child
  23. present — there
  24. present — the time now

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