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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 was locked up in a ________________.
  2. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  3. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. When was this ________________ built?
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. temple — a place of worship
  3. scale — in music
  4. scale — size or range
  5. pit — a fruit stone
  6. snap — to click
  7. pit — in a race
  8. cell — a phone
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. clip — a video
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. cell — in biology
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. temple — a place of worship
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. pit — a hole
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. clip — for paper
  22. sharp — clever
  23. clip — to cut
  24. temple — side of the head

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