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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. That was ________________ to happen.
  3. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  4. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  7. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  19. When was this ________________ built?
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. ________________ games are popular in Germany.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. bound — certain
  3. board — a committee
  4. wake — before a funeral
  5. spring — of water
  6. board — to get on
  7. bound — obliged
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. ground — crushed
  10. ground — a position
  11. shower — rain
  12. shower — to wash
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. bound — tied together
  15. hand — in cards
  16. spring — a coil
  17. wake — a trail
  18. temple — side of the head
  19. temple — a place of worship
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. hand — help
  22. ground — the earth
  23. spring — the season
  24. board — a flat piece

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