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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 ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. When was this ________________ built?
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  11. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  19. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  22. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. patient — calm and waiting
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. temple — a place of worship
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. file — a document
  9. ground — a position
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. firm — steady
  12. ground — crushed
  13. swing — to play on
  14. file — a line of people
  15. bat — the animal
  16. temple — side of the head
  17. file — a tool
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. swing — in golf
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. firm — a company
  22. firm — decided
  23. swing — music
  24. ground — the earth

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