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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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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: toast · temple · kid · prune · bass · capital · land · tear

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  3. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. When was this ________________ built?
  11. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  12. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. temple — a place of worship
  3. toast — bread
  4. kid — child
  5. temple — side of the head
  6. land — a country
  7. toast — a drink to someone
  8. tear — to rip
  9. land — to come down
  10. temple — a place of worship
  11. bass — low music
  12. bass — the fish
  13. prune — to trim
  14. tear — from crying
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. prune — to trim
  17. capital — money
  18. tear — from crying
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. bass — the instrument
  21. capital — a city
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. toast — the most admired
  24. land — ground

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