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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. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  4. When was this ________________ built?
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  12. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. bowl — a dish
  4. temple — a place of worship
  5. march — the month
  6. capital — money
  7. clip — a video
  8. spell — letters
  9. pitch — a sports field
  10. clip — to cut
  11. temple — side of the head
  12. pitch — completely
  13. clip — for paper
  14. kid — child
  15. pitch — a sales talk
  16. capital — a city
  17. bowl — to roll
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. kid — to tease
  20. march — the month
  21. spell — magic
  22. spell — a short time
  23. march — music
  24. bowl — a football final

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