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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. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  2. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  3. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  4. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  9. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  14. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  17. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  18. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  19. Where did you ________________ them?
  20. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. When was this ________________ built?
  24. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?

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

Answer key

  1. fork — a garden tool
  2. lie — to recline
  3. temple — a place of worship
  4. mug — a cup
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. scale — in music
  7. cold — an illness
  8. present — there
  9. fork — in a road
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. clip — for paper
  12. clip — to cut
  13. lie — an untruth
  14. lie — an untruth
  15. clip — a video
  16. temple — side of the head
  17. fork — to eat with
  18. present — the time now
  19. mug — to rob
  20. mug — a face
  21. cold — not warm
  22. scale — size or range
  23. temple — a place of worship
  24. present — a gift

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