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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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  7. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  8. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. When was this ________________ built?
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  24. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. temple — a place of worship
  3. clip — a video
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. root — of a word
  7. root — the cause
  8. rest — what's left
  9. game — wild animals
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. wind — moving air
  13. wind — moving air
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. rest — what's left
  16. mine — for digging
  17. clip — for paper
  18. rest — a break
  19. game — a match
  20. clip — to cut
  21. temple — a place of worship
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. root — of a plant
  24. temple — side of the head

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