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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. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  5. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  10. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  11. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. When was this ________________ built?
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  16. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  17. My father caught me by the ________________.
  18. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  19. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  20. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  21. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. chest — a box
  3. cold — an illness
  4. lash — to lash out
  5. bowl — a football final
  6. chest — of your body
  7. clip — to cut
  8. chest — of your body
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. jam — in traffic
  11. lash — a whip stroke
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. temple — a place of worship
  14. cold — not warm
  15. lash — an eyelash
  16. bowl — a dish
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. jam — to spread on bread
  19. bowl — to roll
  20. temple — side of the head
  21. jam — a tight spot
  22. clip — a video
  23. clip — for paper
  24. arm — a part of something

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