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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. That must've been a ________________.
  7. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  8. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  9. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  10. When was this ________________ built?
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. The ________________ market has crashed.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. rush — hurry
  3. rush — to hurry
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. rush — a thrill
  7. root — the cause
  8. root — of a word
  9. temple — side of the head
  10. temple — a place of worship
  11. spring — of water
  12. wound — an injury
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. root — of a plant
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. band — a music group
  17. stock — goods
  18. spring — the season
  19. wound — an injury
  20. stock — shares
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. spring — a coil
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. band — a ring

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