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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: band · hand · temple · bat · cabinet · fine · stock · land

  1. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  2. What do you think of the new ________________?
  3. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  4. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  5. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  6. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. The ________________ market has crashed.
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. When was this ________________ built?
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. fine — a penalty
  4. fine — all right
  5. fine — high quality
  6. cabinet — a cupboard
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. bat — the animal
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. hand — help
  11. cabinet — ministers
  12. land — to come down
  13. temple — side of the head
  14. band — a music group
  15. stock — shares
  16. band — a ring
  17. land — a country
  18. stock — goods
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. land — ground
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. temple — a place of worship
  24. hand — in cards

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