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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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. When was this ________________ built?
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  19. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  22. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  23. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. field — farmland
  3. last — to go on
  4. track — a song
  5. field — for sport
  6. squash — to crush
  7. squash — the sport
  8. last — finally
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. temple — a place of worship
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. field — a subject
  13. band — a ring
  14. temple — side of the head
  15. band — a music group
  16. chip — for betting
  17. last — final
  18. track — to keep track
  19. squash — the vegetable
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. track — a path
  22. chip — to eat
  23. chip — in a computer
  24. straw — dry grass

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