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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. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. When was this ________________ built?

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. degree — temperature
  3. board — a committee
  4. stem — to come from
  5. clip — to cut
  6. swing — in golf
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. board — to get on
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. cold — not warm
  11. swing — to play on
  12. clip — a video
  13. degree — an amount
  14. cold — an illness
  15. board — a flat piece
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. clip — for paper
  19. temple — side of the head
  20. swing — music
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. degree — from a university
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. temple — a place of worship

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