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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  4. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  5. Have you found your soul ________________?
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  8. When was this ________________ built?
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  18. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. field — farmland
  3. mate — to breed
  4. kick — with a leg
  5. mate — a partner
  6. stock — shares
  7. kick — in football
  8. temple — a place of worship
  9. file — a document
  10. kick — a thrill
  11. stock — goods
  12. field — a subject
  13. field — for sport
  14. file — a tool
  15. temple — side of the head
  16. file — a line of people
  17. stock — a soup base
  18. mate — a friend

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