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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. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  7. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  8. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. When was this ________________ built?
  18. Don't do anything ________________.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  21. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  22. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  23. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. clip — to cut
  4. ruler — for measuring
  5. cold — an illness
  6. pound — to hit hard
  7. can — a tin
  8. pound — a weight
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. clip — for paper
  11. ruler — for measuring
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. clip — a video
  14. rash — on the skin
  15. mine — for digging
  16. cold — not warm
  17. temple — a place of worship
  18. rash — hasty
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. ruler — a monarch
  21. temple — side of the head
  22. can — a tin
  23. can — to be able to
  24. rash — a series

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