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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. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  10. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  13. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  14. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. The tickets are free of ________________.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. When was this ________________ built?

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. squash — the sport
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. charge — electricity
  5. cell — a phone
  6. drill — a practice
  7. clip — to cut
  8. face — part of the head
  9. squash — to crush
  10. temple — side of the head
  11. shower — to wash
  12. face — to point toward
  13. charge — in control
  14. face — to confront
  15. clip — a video
  16. shower — rain
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. charge — a price
  19. clip — for paper
  20. cell — in biology
  21. drill — army training
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. drill — the tool
  24. temple — a place of worship

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