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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. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  3. My mare is ________________ in color.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  11. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. When was this ________________ built?
  20. How do you ________________ your surname?
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. wake — before a funeral
  3. bay — a horse colour
  4. prune — to trim
  5. bay — to keep at bay
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. wake — a trail
  8. wake — to stop sleeping
  9. wound — an injury
  10. bay — a part of the sea
  11. temple — side of the head
  12. last — final
  13. spell — magic
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. cold — not warm
  16. spell — a short time
  17. prune — to trim
  18. last — to go on
  19. temple — a place of worship
  20. spell — letters
  21. wound — an injury
  22. last — finally
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. cold — an illness

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