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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: roll · tube · fall · last · clip · temple · rest · wind

  1. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  2. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. When was this ________________ built?
  5. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  6. We're on a ________________ here.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. tube — the underground
  3. fall — to drop
  4. temple — a place of worship
  5. roll — a cake
  6. roll — on a roll
  7. fall — to drop
  8. temple — side of the head
  9. fall — the season
  10. tube — a container
  11. rest — what's left
  12. clip — to cut
  13. tube — in a tire
  14. clip — a video
  15. last — to go on
  16. last — final
  17. clip — for paper
  18. wind — moving air
  19. rest — a break
  20. wind — moving air
  21. rest — what's left
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. roll — a list
  24. last — finally

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