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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 rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  4. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  5. This piece is in a major ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  8. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  9. When was this ________________ built?
  10. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. David sat on the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. file — a tool
  3. temple — side of the head
  4. key — the most important part
  5. key — in music
  6. cold — not warm
  7. swing — music
  8. rock — to move gently
  9. temple — a place of worship
  10. rock — music
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. swing — in golf
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. key — for a lock
  15. hand — in cards
  16. cold — an illness
  17. hand — help
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. rock — a stone
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. file — a document
  23. file — a line of people
  24. swing — to play on

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