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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. She's very handy with a ________________.
  3. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  7. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  13. The ________________ took off on time.
  14. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  15. When was this ________________ built?
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  18. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  19. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  20. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. How do you ________________ your surname?

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. saw — the tool
  3. plane — a tool
  4. cold — an illness
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. lash — a whip stroke
  7. fine — high quality
  8. spell — a short time
  9. spell — magic
  10. hand — in cards
  11. cold — not warm
  12. fine — all right
  13. plane — an aircraft
  14. temple — side of the head
  15. temple — a place of worship
  16. saw — the tool
  17. lash — to lash out
  18. saw — past of 'see'
  19. plane — in geometry
  20. lash — an eyelash
  21. hand — help
  22. fine — a penalty
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. spell — letters

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