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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. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  2. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  16. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. When was this ________________ built?
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. What do you think of the new ________________?
  23. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  24. He's quite ________________, isn't he?

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. track — a song
  3. capital — a city
  4. mine — for digging
  5. capital — money
  6. net — after costs
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. snap — to click
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. net — in sport
  12. track — to keep track
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. track — a path
  16. temple — side of the head
  17. net — for catching
  18. temple — a place of worship
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. cabinet — ministers
  23. cabinet — a cupboard
  24. sharp — clever

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