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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. When was this ________________ built?
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. That must've been a ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  14. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  15. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  16. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  17. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  20. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  23. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  24. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. temple — a place of worship
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. kid — child
  5. clip — for paper
  6. cold — not warm
  7. dip — to dunk
  8. cold — an illness
  9. clip — to cut
  10. rush — a thrill
  11. clip — a video
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. dip — a sauce
  14. temple — side of the head
  15. dip — to sink
  16. rush — to hurry
  17. rush — hurry
  18. kid — to tease
  19. wax — in the ear
  20. wax — to grow
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. rule — a law
  23. rule — government
  24. rule — to rule out

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