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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 was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  3. The King held a masked ________________.
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. When was this ________________ built?
  15. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  24. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. ball — a great time
  3. ball — a dance
  4. tube — a container
  5. ball — a round shape
  6. file — a document
  7. tube — the underground
  8. last — finally
  9. cold — an illness
  10. cold — not warm
  11. march — the month
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. last — final
  14. temple — a place of worship
  15. rest — what's left
  16. last — to go on
  17. file — a line of people
  18. march — music
  19. march — the month
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. rest — a break
  22. file — a tool
  23. temple — side of the head
  24. rest — what's left

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