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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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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: hand · temple · content · coach · mine · calf · race · object

  1. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  4. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  5. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  6. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  7. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  8. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  9. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. When was this ________________ built?
  21. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  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. temple — a place of worship
  2. hand — help
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. calf — of the leg
  5. coach — pulled by horses
  6. object — to protest
  7. object — an aim
  8. object — a thing
  9. temple — side of the head
  10. race — the arms race
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. hand — in cards
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. content — the amount
  15. mine — for digging
  16. race — humankind
  17. race — a contest
  18. content — happy
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. temple — a place of worship
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. coach — a trainer
  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