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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  8. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. When was this ________________ built?
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. That must've been a ________________.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  21. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  22. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  23. This piece is in a major ________________.
  24. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. clip — to cut
  3. stem — of a plant
  4. drill — a practice
  5. drill — army training
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. stem — to come from
  8. rush — to hurry
  9. mine — for digging
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. cell — in biology
  12. cell — a phone
  13. clip — for paper
  14. temple — a place of worship
  15. drill — the tool
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. clip — a video
  18. rush — a thrill
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. rush — hurry
  21. key — for a lock
  22. key — the most important part
  23. key — in music
  24. temple — side of the head

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