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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: spring · scale · chest · bowl · stock · land · temple · rush

  1. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  2. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. That must've been a ________________.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  8. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  9. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. The ________________ market has crashed.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  18. When was this ________________ built?
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. scale — for weighing
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. rush — a thrill
  5. stock — goods
  6. chest — of your body
  7. bowl — a dish
  8. rush — hurry
  9. bowl — to roll
  10. chest — a box
  11. land — a country
  12. temple — side of the head
  13. spring — of water
  14. stock — shares
  15. spring — a coil
  16. spring — the season
  17. stock — a soup base
  18. temple — a place of worship
  19. land — ground
  20. land — to come down
  21. scale — in music
  22. scale — size or range
  23. rush — to hurry
  24. chest — of your body

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