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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. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. When was this ________________ built?
  3. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  4. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  5. What do you think of the new ________________?
  6. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  19. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  20. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  21. Have you met the new head ________________?
  22. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  23. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  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. coach — pulled by horses
  2. temple — a place of worship
  3. temple — a place of worship
  4. stem — a stem cell
  5. cabinet — ministers
  6. cabinet — ministers
  7. net — after costs
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. field — a subject
  11. field — farmland
  12. net — in sport
  13. cold — not warm
  14. lie — an untruth
  15. field — for sport
  16. cold — an illness
  17. net — for catching
  18. temple — side of the head
  19. lie — an untruth
  20. stem — to come from
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. lie — to recline
  23. cabinet — a cupboard
  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