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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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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: stock · temple · cell · straw · wind · cold

  1. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. When was this ________________ built?
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. temple — a place of worship
  4. cell — in biology
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. temple — side of the head
  7. stock — shares
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. wind — moving air
  10. cold — not warm
  11. stock — goods
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. temple — a place of worship
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. wind — moving air
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. cold — an illness
  18. straw — dry grass

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