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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.

Make a worksheet

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 · temple · cell · mine · nail · plane · capital · clip

  1. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. When was this ________________ built?
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. The ________________ went through the wall.
  12. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  13. The ________________ took off on time.
  14. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. temple — a place of worship
  3. clip — for paper
  4. capital — money
  5. game — a match
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. clip — to cut
  10. cell — a phone
  11. nail — for a hammer
  12. temple — side of the head
  13. plane — an aircraft
  14. temple — a place of worship
  15. cell — in biology
  16. capital — a city
  17. nail — on a finger
  18. game — wild animals
  19. plane — in geometry
  20. mine — for digging
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. clip — a video
  23. plane — a tool
  24. capital — a big letter

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