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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: patient · fall · land · cold · band · stick · temple · pop

  1. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  2. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. You don't need to ________________ round.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. We're almost out of ________________.
  20. When was this ________________ built?
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — side of the head
  2. temple — a place of worship
  3. land — to come down
  4. cold — not warm
  5. fall — to drop
  6. cold — an illness
  7. stick — a piece of wood
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. pop — to visit
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. stick — to attach or keep to
  12. land — ground
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. land — a country
  16. fall — to drop
  17. pop — music
  18. fall — the season
  19. pop — soda
  20. temple — a place of worship
  21. band — a music group
  22. patient — calm and waiting
  23. band — a ring
  24. stick — a piece of wood

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