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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. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  3. When was this ________________ built?
  4. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  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. race — a contest
  2. trunk — of a tree
  3. temple — a place of worship
  4. trunk — of a car
  5. spring — the season
  6. race — the arms race
  7. temple — a place of worship
  8. file — a line of people
  9. march — the month
  10. spring — a coil
  11. march — the month
  12. race — humankind
  13. spring — of water
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. net — in sport
  16. kid — to tease
  17. net — after costs
  18. file — a tool
  19. file — a document
  20. net — for catching
  21. trunk — of an elephant
  22. march — music
  23. kid — child
  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