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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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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: hand · clip · land · chest · foot · temple · lash · racket

  1. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  9. When was this ________________ built?
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  18. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  19. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. clip — for paper
  3. land — to come down
  4. hand — in cards
  5. lash — a whip stroke
  6. hand — help
  7. chest — of your body
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. temple — a place of worship
  10. clip — a video
  11. lash — an eyelash
  12. land — a country
  13. racket — a loud noise
  14. lash — to lash out
  15. clip — to cut
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. foot — the bottom
  18. foot — part of the body
  19. foot — a measure
  20. land — ground
  21. chest — a box
  22. racket — for tennis
  23. chest — of your body
  24. temple — side of the head

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