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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: game · plane · cold · pitcher · hand · temple · tear · snap

  1. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The ________________ took off on time.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. When was this ________________ built?
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  24. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — side of the head
  2. hand — in cards
  3. tear — from crying
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. cold — an illness
  7. plane — an aircraft
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. hand — help
  10. plane — a tool
  11. game — wild animals
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. tear — from crying
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. plane — in geometry
  16. game — a match
  17. temple — a place of worship
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. tear — to rip
  20. cold — not warm
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. temple — a place of worship
  24. snap — to click

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