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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. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  12. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. When was this ________________ built?
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  20. We're on a ________________ here.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — side of the head
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. stem — to come from
  4. chest — of your body
  5. degree — an amount
  6. file — a document
  7. spring — of water
  8. spring — a coil
  9. file — a line of people
  10. chest — of your body
  11. stem — of a plant
  12. roll — a list
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. degree — from a university
  15. game — a match
  16. temple — a place of worship
  17. file — a tool
  18. game — wild animals
  19. roll — a cake
  20. roll — on a roll
  21. degree — temperature
  22. temple — a place of worship
  23. chest — a box
  24. spring — the season

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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