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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. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  4. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  13. When was this ________________ built?
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. David sat on the ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — a sauce
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. temple — a place of worship
  4. dip — to dunk
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. band — a music group
  7. swing — music
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. capital — a city
  10. swing — in golf
  11. capital — money
  12. temple — side of the head
  13. temple — a place of worship
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. mine — for digging
  19. dip — to sink
  20. cold — an illness
  21. band — a ring
  22. cold — not warm
  23. swing — to play on
  24. cold — the Cold War

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