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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'll be taking the ________________.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  10. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  11. The ________________ went through the wall.
  12. When was this ________________ built?
  13. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  14. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  23. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. tube — the underground
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. nail — for a hammer
  5. chair — a leader
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. tear — to rip
  8. capital — money
  9. dip — to sink
  10. tube — in a tire
  11. nail — for a hammer
  12. temple — a place of worship
  13. temple — side of the head
  14. dip — a sauce
  15. tear — from crying
  16. march — the month
  17. march — music
  18. nail — on a finger
  19. march — the month
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. capital — a city
  22. dip — to dunk
  23. tube — a container
  24. tear — from crying

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