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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  4. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  5. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  9. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. The ________________ went through the wall.
  12. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  13. Have you settled on a ________________?
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. Don't do anything ________________.
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  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. kid — to tease
  3. temple — side of the head
  4. nail — on a finger
  5. date — the fruit
  6. net — after costs
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. nail — for a hammer
  9. rash — on the skin
  10. capital — money
  11. nail — for a hammer
  12. branch — a division
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. net — in sport
  15. kid — child
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. rash — hasty
  21. rash — a series
  22. net — for catching
  23. capital — a city
  24. temple — a place of worship

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