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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. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. When was this ________________ built?
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  8. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  19. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  20. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. mate — a partner
  3. mine — for digging
  4. temple — a place of worship
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. kid — to tease
  7. mate — to breed
  8. mate — a friend
  9. spring — the season
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. spring — of water
  13. sharp — clever
  14. root — the cause
  15. spring — a coil
  16. root — of a plant
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. root — of a word
  19. temple — side of the head
  20. temple — a place of worship
  21. kid — child
  22. file — a line of people
  23. file — a document
  24. file — a tool

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