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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 120 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: clip · cold · coach · temple · rule · degree · safe · cell

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  13. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  17. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  18. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  19. When was this ________________ built?
  20. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  24. Have you met the new head ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. temple — a place of worship
  3. cell — a phone
  4. clip — for paper
  5. safe — out of danger
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. degree — temperature
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. cold — not warm
  10. safe — a strongbox
  11. cell — in biology
  12. rule — government
  13. coach — pulled by horses
  14. degree — from a university
  15. clip — a video
  16. rule — a law
  17. safe — out of danger
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. temple — a place of worship
  20. temple — side of the head
  21. degree — an amount
  22. clip — to cut
  23. rule — to rule out
  24. coach — a trainer

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