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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. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. When was this ________________ built?
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  8. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  9. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  16. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  22. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  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. temple — a place of worship
  2. tube — the underground
  3. temple — a place of worship
  4. spring — a coil
  5. wind — moving air
  6. wind — moving air
  7. dip — to dunk
  8. tube — a container
  9. perch — the fish
  10. last — final
  11. dip — a sauce
  12. last — to go on
  13. pitch — completely
  14. last — finally
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. tube — in a tire
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. spring — the season
  20. spring — of water
  21. pitch — a sales talk
  22. dip — to sink
  23. pitch — a sports field
  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