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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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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. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  9. Have you settled on a ________________?
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. The ________________ went through the wall.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  21. When was this ________________ built?
  22. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  23. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — for a hammer
  2. degree — temperature
  3. march — the month
  4. cell — a phone
  5. mine — for digging
  6. degree — from a university
  7. degree — an amount
  8. nail — on a finger
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. row — a line
  11. temple — a place of worship
  12. cell — in biology
  13. march — music
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. march — the month
  17. row — to paddle
  18. nail — for a hammer
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. temple — a place of worship
  22. date — the fruit
  23. temple — side of the head
  24. mine — an explosive

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