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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. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  15. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  21. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  22. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  23. When was this ________________ built?
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. cap — a hat
  4. bark — to shout
  5. field — for sport
  6. capital — a city
  7. field — farmland
  8. cap — a lid
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. cell — a phone
  11. field — a subject
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. stick — a piece of wood
  15. temple — side of the head
  16. capital — money
  17. cell — in biology
  18. stick — a piece of wood
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. stick — to attach or keep to
  21. snap — to click
  22. cap — of ice
  23. temple — a place of worship
  24. snap — to speak sharply

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