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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 ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  7. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  8. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. When was this ________________ built?
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. Have you met the new head ________________?
  24. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. net — in sport
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. cell — a phone
  6. club — for golf
  7. club — for dancing
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. net — after costs
  12. temple — side of the head
  13. clip — a video
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. cell — in biology
  16. net — for catching
  17. temple — a place of worship
  18. clip — for paper
  19. clip — to cut
  20. row — a line
  21. mine — for digging
  22. row — to paddle
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. club — a group

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