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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. When was this ________________ built?
  3. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  11. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. temple — a place of worship
  3. foot — a measure
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. capital — money
  6. can — a tin
  7. clip — for paper
  8. temple — side of the head
  9. race — humankind
  10. can — a tin
  11. foot — part of the body
  12. race — the arms race
  13. cold — not warm
  14. capital — a city
  15. race — a contest
  16. cold — an illness
  17. bat — the animal
  18. can — to be able to
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. foot — the bottom
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. clip — to cut
  24. clip — a video

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