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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. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  4. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  7. What do you think of the new ________________?
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. When was this ________________ built?
  14. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  15. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  19. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. He keeps ________________ of his 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. ground — crushed
  3. track — a song
  4. ground — the earth
  5. game — wild animals
  6. track — a path
  7. cabinet — ministers
  8. cold — an illness
  9. spring — the season
  10. game — a match
  11. face — to point toward
  12. ground — a position
  13. temple — a place of worship
  14. temple — side of the head
  15. face — to confront
  16. spring — a coil
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. cabinet — a cupboard
  19. cabinet — ministers
  20. face — part of the head
  21. cold — not warm
  22. spring — of water
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. track — to keep track

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