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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 · root · mark · kid · bore · shower · temple · rule

  1. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  2. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  3. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  6. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  7. When was this ________________ built?
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  10. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  11. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  14. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  20. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. root — of a word
  3. mark — to pay attention
  4. shower — to wash
  5. root — of a plant
  6. temple — side of the head
  7. temple — a place of worship
  8. kid — to tease
  9. root — the cause
  10. bore — to drill
  11. bore — gave birth
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. mark — a grade
  14. rule — a law
  15. spring — a coil
  16. rule — government
  17. rule — to rule out
  18. spring — the season
  19. mark — a trace
  20. bore — to tire
  21. shower — rain
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. spring — of water
  24. kid — child

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