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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: net · scale · rush · tear · cold · club · degree · lean

  1. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  10. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  15. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. That must've been a ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  24. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. tear — from crying
  3. net — in sport
  4. tear — to rip
  5. tear — from crying
  6. club — for dancing
  7. scale — size or range
  8. degree — temperature
  9. scale — in music
  10. club — for golf
  11. lean — to rest against
  12. degree — from a university
  13. net — for catching
  14. lean — thin
  15. lean — to bend
  16. degree — an amount
  17. rush — to hurry
  18. cold — not warm
  19. scale — for weighing
  20. cold — an illness
  21. rush — a thrill
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. net — after costs
  24. club — a group

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