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

Word bank: temple · kid · root · hide · field · cold

  1. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  4. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. When was this ________________ built?
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.

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

Answer key

  1. root — of a word
  2. cold — not warm
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. root — the cause
  5. field — for sport
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. temple — a place of worship
  8. kid — to tease
  9. temple — side of the head
  10. cold — an illness
  11. hide — animal skin
  12. field — a subject
  13. kid — child
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. field — farmland
  16. temple — a place of worship
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. root — of a plant

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