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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: deal · bark · fan · chest · ground · degree · scale · bass

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  3. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  8. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  16. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  20. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. fan — to cool the air
  3. scale — in music
  4. bark — to shout
  5. degree — an amount
  6. ground — crushed
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. deal — to handle
  9. scale — size or range
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. chest — a box
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. chest — of your body
  14. ground — a position
  15. bass — low music
  16. bass — the instrument
  17. bass — the fish
  18. degree — temperature
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. deal — an agreement
  21. chest — of your body
  22. ground — the earth
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. deal — a big deal

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