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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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. When was this ________________ built?
  4. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  5. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. My father caught me by the ________________.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. Did you ________________ the button?
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  22. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. mine — for digging
  3. temple — a place of worship
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. arm — a part of something
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. spring — the season
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. spring — of water
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. hand — help
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. hand — in cards
  14. net — in sport
  15. net — for catching
  16. temple — side of the head
  17. spring — a coil
  18. press — to push
  19. bat — the animal
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. press — a publisher
  22. press — newspapers
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. net — after costs

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