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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 120 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'll be taking the ________________.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  4. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  10. When was this ________________ built?
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  22. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  23. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  24. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. march — music
  3. temple — a place of worship
  4. calf — a young animal
  5. spring — of water
  6. temple — side of the head
  7. prune — to trim
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. tube — in a tire
  10. temple — a place of worship
  11. spring — a coil
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. cold — an illness
  14. prune — to trim
  15. march — the month
  16. calf — of the leg
  17. cold — not warm
  18. mark — to pay attention
  19. spring — the season
  20. march — the month
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. tube — a container
  23. mark — a grade
  24. mark — a trace

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