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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: nail · rush · temple · bat · pop · spring · wound · field

  1. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. We're almost out of ________________.
  12. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  13. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. When was this ________________ built?
  17. That must've been a ________________.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. The ________________ went through the wall.
  21. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. pop — to visit
  3. field — for sport
  4. rush — to hurry
  5. pop — music
  6. temple — a place of worship
  7. bat — the animal
  8. spring — the season
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. wound — an injury
  11. pop — soda
  12. rush — hurry
  13. temple — side of the head
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. spring — of water
  16. temple — a place of worship
  17. rush — a thrill
  18. field — farmland
  19. field — a subject
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. spring — a coil
  23. wound — an injury
  24. nail — on a finger

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