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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: game · rash · content · jam · temple · cold · spring · field

  1. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. When was this ________________ built?
  5. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  6. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Don't do anything ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. temple — side of the head
  3. spring — a coil
  4. temple — a place of worship
  5. jam — in traffic
  6. jam — to spread on bread
  7. content — happy
  8. spring — of water
  9. content — the amount
  10. field — farmland
  11. temple — a place of worship
  12. field — a subject
  13. cold — an illness
  14. rash — hasty
  15. cold — not warm
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. field — for sport
  18. game — a match
  19. game — wild animals
  20. rash — a series
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. jam — a tight spot
  24. cold — the Cold War

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