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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: hand · kick · last · saw · roll · mouse · shower · temple

  1. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. We're on a ________________ here.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. He works in a ________________ mill.
  11. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  12. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  15. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  16. She's very handy with a ________________.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  19. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. When was this ________________ built?
  24. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. shower — to wash
  3. last — final
  4. last — to go on
  5. roll — on a roll
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. last — finally
  8. roll — a list
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. saw — the tool
  11. saw — past of 'see'
  12. roll — a cake
  13. kick — in football
  14. mouse — the animal
  15. kick — with a leg
  16. saw — the tool
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. mouse — the animal
  19. mouse — for a computer
  20. hand — in cards
  21. hand — help
  22. shower — rain
  23. temple — a place of worship
  24. temple — side of the head

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