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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 ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  8. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  9. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. What do you think of the new ________________?
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. When was this ________________ built?
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  22. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. scale — size or range
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. scale — in music
  6. clip — a video
  7. calf — a young animal
  8. temple — side of the head
  9. cabinet — ministers
  10. net — in sport
  11. calf — of the leg
  12. bat — the animal
  13. cabinet — ministers
  14. wound — an injury
  15. clip — for paper
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. net — for catching
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. temple — a place of worship
  20. wound — an injury
  21. net — after costs
  22. cabinet — a cupboard
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. clip — to cut

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