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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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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: tear · hand · trunk · race · degree · scale · root · cabinet

  1. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. What do you think of the new ________________?
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. tear — to rip
  5. degree — an amount
  6. root — of a plant
  7. tear — from crying
  8. hand — in cards
  9. race — humankind
  10. race — a contest
  11. tear — from crying
  12. degree — from a university
  13. cabinet — ministers
  14. scale — in music
  15. root — of a word
  16. hand — help
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. scale — size or range
  20. root — the cause
  21. degree — temperature
  22. cabinet — a cupboard
  23. race — the arms race
  24. scale — for weighing

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