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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. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  6. When was this ________________ built?
  7. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  11. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  12. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  19. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  24. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. rule — government
  3. branch — a division
  4. capital — a city
  5. dip — a sauce
  6. temple — a place of worship
  7. root — of a word
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. rule — to rule out
  11. branch — of a tree
  12. root — the cause
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. temple — side of the head
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. shower — to wash
  17. cold — an illness
  18. dip — to dunk
  19. rule — a law
  20. cold — not warm
  21. shower — rain
  22. capital — money
  23. dip — to sink
  24. root — of a plant

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