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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 play ________________ in a jazz band.
  3. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  19. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. When was this ________________ built?
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. bass — the instrument
  3. temple — side of the head
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. face — to point toward
  6. scale — in music
  7. prune — to trim
  8. prune — to trim
  9. deal — to handle
  10. cold — an illness
  11. cold — not warm
  12. bass — the fish
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. deal — an agreement
  16. branch — a division
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. face — to confront
  19. deal — a big deal
  20. bass — low music
  21. face — part of the head
  22. scale — size or range
  23. temple — a place of worship
  24. branch — of a tree

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