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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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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: saw · chest · temple · pit · spring · cap · bat · craft

  1. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  2. He works in a ________________ mill.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  5. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  13. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.
  19. When was this ________________ built?
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  22. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  23. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  24. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. saw — the tool
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. cap — a hat
  5. saw — past of 'see'
  6. chest — of your body
  7. cap — of ice
  8. spring — the season
  9. craft — boats
  10. chest — a box
  11. bat — the animal
  12. craft — a skill
  13. cap — a lid
  14. chest — of your body
  15. pit — in a race
  16. spring — of water
  17. spring — a coil
  18. saw — the tool
  19. temple — a place of worship
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. temple — side of the head
  22. pit — a hole
  23. pit — a fruit stone
  24. craft — a handicraft

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