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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: shower · cell · field · temple · ground · lash

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  3. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. When was this ________________ built?
  12. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. temple — a place of worship
  3. lash — an eyelash
  4. cell — a phone
  5. ground — crushed
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. temple — side of the head
  8. cell — in biology
  9. shower — to wash
  10. ground — the earth
  11. temple — a place of worship
  12. lash — to lash out
  13. field — farmland
  14. field — for sport
  15. ground — a position
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. shower — rain
  18. lash — a whip stroke

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