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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.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
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: cold · mine · chest · land · leaves · temple · perch · rash

  1. When are we going to ________________?
  2. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  5. When was this ________________ built?
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Don't do anything ________________.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  20. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The ________________ change colour in autumn.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. leaves — lets stay
  3. land — ground
  4. rash — a series
  5. temple — a place of worship
  6. chest — of your body
  7. cold — an illness
  8. perch — the fish
  9. mine — for digging
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. cold — not warm
  14. rash — hasty
  15. chest — a box
  16. leaves — to go away
  17. chest — of your body
  18. land — a country
  19. temple — a place of worship
  20. temple — side of the head
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. leaves — of a tree

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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