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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: racket · mine · bass · temple · tear · stem

  1. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  4. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  5. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  11. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  12. When was this ________________ built?
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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 — belonging to me
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. temple — side of the head
  5. racket — a loud noise
  6. tear — to rip
  7. bass — low music
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. stem — of a plant
  11. bass — the fish
  12. temple — a place of worship
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. mine — for digging
  15. stem — to come from
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. tear — from crying
  18. tear — from crying

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