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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. When was this ________________ built?
  2. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  20. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. That was ________________ to happen.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. temple — side of the head
  3. land — ground
  4. file — a line of people
  5. lash — to lash out
  6. tear — to rip
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. land — to come down
  9. drill — the tool
  10. lash — an eyelash
  11. tear — from crying
  12. bound — tied together
  13. file — a document
  14. file — a tool
  15. temple — a place of worship
  16. bound — obliged
  17. tear — from crying
  18. land — a country
  19. lash — a whip stroke
  20. drill — a practice
  21. cold — not warm
  22. drill — army training
  23. bound — certain
  24. cold — an illness

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