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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 · march · sharp · land · shower · bass

  1. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. When was this ________________ built?
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — side of the head
  2. land — ground
  3. temple — a place of worship
  4. land — to come down
  5. bass — the instrument
  6. land — a country
  7. temple — a place of worship
  8. bass — the fish
  9. march — the month
  10. shower — to wash
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. sharp — clever
  13. bass — low music
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. march — music
  16. march — the month
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. shower — rain

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