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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. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. When was this ________________ built?
  11. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. I've got to change the light ________________.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. The light ________________ burned out.
  24. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. chest — a box
  3. clip — a video
  4. chest — of your body
  5. temple — side of the head
  6. hand — help
  7. hand — in cards
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. clip — to cut
  10. temple — a place of worship
  11. dip — to dunk
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. bulb — of a plant
  15. fall — to drop
  16. clip — for paper
  17. dip — a sauce
  18. fall — to drop
  19. bulb — for light
  20. mine — for digging
  21. fall — the season
  22. chest — of your body
  23. bulb — for light
  24. dip — to sink

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