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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. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  10. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  11. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  17. This piece is in a major ________________.
  18. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  19. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. When was this ________________ built?
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. land — a country
  3. land — to come down
  4. spring — a coil
  5. spring — of water
  6. spring — the season
  7. present — a gift
  8. wound — an injury
  9. key — for a lock
  10. cue — a hint
  11. present — there
  12. chair — a leader
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. cue — for pool
  15. wound — an injury
  16. temple — side of the head
  17. key — in music
  18. cue — a signal
  19. key — the most important part
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. temple — a place of worship
  22. land — ground
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. present — the time now

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