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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: current · bat · march · kid · stem · clip · temple · dip

  1. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  2. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  3. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. When was this ________________ built?
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  23. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  24. Many English words ________________ from Latin.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. current — electric
  3. dip — a sauce
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. stem — of a plant
  6. march — the month
  7. clip — for paper
  8. kid — to tease
  9. clip — a video
  10. march — music
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. temple — a place of worship
  13. clip — to cut
  14. current — happening now
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. temple — side of the head
  17. march — the month
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. dip — to sink
  20. bat — the animal
  21. kid — child
  22. current — of water
  23. dip — to dunk
  24. stem — to come from

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