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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: temple · clip · pit · pound · bat · cell

  1. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. When was this ________________ built?
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  16. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  17. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a fruit stone
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. pound — for dogs
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. temple — a place of worship
  6. cell — a phone
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. temple — side of the head
  9. clip — to cut
  10. temple — a place of worship
  11. cell — in biology
  12. bat — the animal
  13. pit — a hole
  14. clip — for paper
  15. pound — a weight
  16. pound — to hit hard
  17. pit — in a race
  18. clip — a video

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