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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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  10. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  11. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  12. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  13. When was this ________________ built?
  14. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  19. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  20. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  21. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  22. What do you think of the new ________________?
  23. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  24. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. band — a ring
  3. cold — an illness
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. branch — a division
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. perch — the fish
  10. temple — side of the head
  11. branch — of a tree
  12. branch — of a bank
  13. temple — a place of worship
  14. rule — government
  15. cold — not warm
  16. band — a music group
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. cabinet — ministers
  19. cabinet — a cupboard
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. rule — to rule out
  22. cabinet — ministers
  23. rule — a law
  24. perch — for a bird

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