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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. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  8. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  11. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  12. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  18. When was this ________________ built?
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. cap — a hat
  3. land — ground
  4. land — to come down
  5. temple — side of the head
  6. cap — a lid
  7. rest — what's left
  8. rest — what's left
  9. clip — for paper
  10. stem — to come from
  11. rest — a break
  12. firm — a company
  13. file — a line of people
  14. clip — a video
  15. file — a document
  16. file — a tool
  17. cap — of ice
  18. temple — a place of worship
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. clip — to cut
  21. firm — decided
  22. land — a country
  23. firm — steady
  24. stem — of a plant

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