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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: bat · content · temple · land · cabinet · wound · scale · can

  1. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  2. What do you think of the new ________________?
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  7. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. When was this ________________ built?
  10. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  11. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — a cupboard
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. content — the amount
  4. land — ground
  5. content — happy
  6. temple — side of the head
  7. can — to be able to
  8. land — to come down
  9. temple — a place of worship
  10. scale — size or range
  11. cabinet — ministers
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. bat — the animal
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. can — a tin
  18. wound — an injury
  19. can — a tin
  20. scale — in music
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. land — a country
  23. wound — an injury
  24. temple — a place of worship

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