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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 120 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: cell · rest · capital · land · root · temple · straw · spring

  1. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  2. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  3. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. When was this ________________ built?
  7. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  8. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  9. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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 — the cause
  3. root — of a word
  4. spring — of water
  5. cell — a phone
  6. temple — a place of worship
  7. root — of a plant
  8. rest — what's left
  9. rest — what's left
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. capital — a city
  12. temple — side of the head
  13. land — a country
  14. spring — the season
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. rest — a break
  17. spring — a coil
  18. capital — money
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. land — ground
  21. land — to come down
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. cell — in biology

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