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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: cold · last · capital · spring · lean · temple · sharp · rule

  1. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  12. When was this ________________ built?
  13. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  19. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. rule — government
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. spring — of water
  5. last — finally
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. capital — a city
  8. cold — not warm
  9. temple — side of the head
  10. capital — money
  11. lean — to rest against
  12. temple — a place of worship
  13. lean — thin
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. spring — a coil
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. cold — an illness
  18. lean — to bend
  19. rule — a law
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. temple — a place of worship
  22. sharp — clever
  23. last — to go on
  24. last — final

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