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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. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  2. That was ________________ to happen.
  3. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  11. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  12. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  17. When was this ________________ built?
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — side of the head
  2. bound — certain
  3. bound — tied together
  4. clip — for paper
  5. spell — letters
  6. spell — magic
  7. degree — an amount
  8. land — ground
  9. land — a country
  10. firm — steady
  11. bound — obliged
  12. firm — decided
  13. degree — from a university
  14. row — to paddle
  15. land — to come down
  16. temple — a place of worship
  17. temple — a place of worship
  18. spell — a short time
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. firm — a company
  21. clip — a video
  22. row — a line
  23. clip — to cut
  24. degree — temperature

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