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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. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  6. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. When was this ________________ built?
  11. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  12. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  18. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. The King held a masked ________________.
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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 — a law
  3. clip — for paper
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. trunk — of a tree
  6. ball — a round shape
  7. snap — to click
  8. clip — a video
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. temple — a place of worship
  11. temple — side of the head
  12. trunk — of a car
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. degree — an amount
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. rule — to rule out
  18. rule — government
  19. degree — from a university
  20. clip — to cut
  21. ball — a great time
  22. degree — temperature
  23. ball — a dance
  24. fork — in a road

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