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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. That was ________________ to happen.
  3. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  4. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. Have you found your soul ________________?
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  14. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  18. When was this ________________ built?
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  22. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  23. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  24. We are ________________ to obey laws.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. bound — certain
  3. mate — to breed
  4. mate — a friend
  5. cold — not warm
  6. court — for sport
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. court — of law
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. mate — a partner
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. calf — a young animal
  14. temple — side of the head
  15. court — of a king
  16. fork — in a road
  17. calf — of the leg
  18. temple — a place of worship
  19. cold — an illness
  20. mine — for digging
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. fork — to eat with
  23. bound — tied together
  24. bound — obliged

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