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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: temple · game · kid · press · cold · calf · march · straw

  1. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  3. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. When was this ________________ built?
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. calf — a young animal
  3. temple — side of the head
  4. press — to push
  5. kid — to tease
  6. temple — a place of worship
  7. cold — an illness
  8. game — a match
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. cold — not warm
  11. calf — of the leg
  12. kid — child
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. march — music
  18. press — newspapers
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. press — a publisher
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. temple — a place of worship
  23. march — the month
  24. march — the month

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