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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. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  5. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  6. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  7. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  8. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  9. When was this ________________ built?
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. My father caught me by the ________________.
  15. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  18. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  19. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  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. temple — a place of worship
  2. rash — on the skin
  3. rash — hasty
  4. present — the time now
  5. present — a gift
  6. stem — of a plant
  7. stem — a stem cell
  8. present — there
  9. temple — a place of worship
  10. spring — of water
  11. file — a document
  12. stem — to come from
  13. spring — the season
  14. arm — part of the body
  15. face — to confront
  16. face — part of the head
  17. arm — a part of something
  18. rash — a series
  19. temple — side of the head
  20. file — a line of people
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. spring — a coil
  23. face — to point toward
  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