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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. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  5. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  6. He works in a ________________ mill.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  14. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.
  19. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  20. When was this ________________ built?
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. spring — the season
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. bore — to tire
  5. mark — a trace
  6. saw — the tool
  7. tear — from crying
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. mark — a grade
  10. spring — of water
  11. mark — to pay attention
  12. spring — a coil
  13. bore — gave birth
  14. bore — to drill
  15. tear — to rip
  16. tear — from crying
  17. saw — past of 'see'
  18. saw — the tool
  19. temple — side of the head
  20. temple — a place of worship
  21. shower — rain
  22. cold — an illness
  23. cold — not warm
  24. shower — to wash

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