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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: stock · temple · cold · root · current · tear · straw · saw

  1. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. When was this ________________ built?
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  9. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  10. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  15. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  23. She's very handy with a ________________.
  24. He works in a ________________ mill.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. cold — not warm
  3. temple — a place of worship
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. tear — from crying
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. stock — shares
  8. current — of water
  9. root — of a word
  10. root — of a plant
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. root — the cause
  13. cold — an illness
  14. temple — side of the head
  15. stock — goods
  16. tear — to rip
  17. current — happening now
  18. tear — from crying
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. saw — past of 'see'
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. current — electric
  23. saw — the tool
  24. saw — the tool

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