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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 had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. When was this ________________ built?
  5. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  14. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  20. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  21. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  24. That must've been 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. row — to paddle
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. temple — a place of worship
  5. bowl — a dish
  6. clip — for paper
  7. row — a line
  8. clip — a video
  9. fall — to drop
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. rush — hurry
  12. fall — the season
  13. perch — the fish
  14. rush — to hurry
  15. fall — to drop
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. cold — not warm
  18. cold — an illness
  19. bowl — to roll
  20. temple — side of the head
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. clip — to cut
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. rush — a thrill

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