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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. When was this ________________ built?
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  12. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  13. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  14. That must've been a ________________.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. You shouldn't ________________ things.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. last — final
  3. last — to go on
  4. cold — not warm
  5. degree — from a university
  6. leaves — lets stay
  7. degree — an amount
  8. cold — an illness
  9. leaves — to go away
  10. wound — an injury
  11. temple — a place of worship
  12. leaves — of a tree
  13. rush — hurry
  14. rush — a thrill
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. degree — temperature
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. temple — side of the head
  20. wound — an injury
  21. last — finally
  22. game — wild animals
  23. game — a match
  24. rush — to hurry

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