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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. When was this ________________ built?
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  13. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  24. The flowers bloom in 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. cold — an illness
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. race — a contest
  5. spring — a coil
  6. cold — not warm
  7. fork — in a road
  8. sharp — clever
  9. court — of a king
  10. temple — a place of worship
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. deal — an agreement
  13. deal — a big deal
  14. spring — of water
  15. deal — to handle
  16. court — of law
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. race — humankind
  20. temple — side of the head
  21. race — the arms race
  22. court — for sport
  23. fork — a garden tool
  24. spring — the season

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