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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.

Make a worksheet

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
468
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: temple · press · spring · cold · lean · mouse · mine · court

  1. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  2. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  3. Did you ________________ the button?
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  16. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  24. When was this ________________ built?

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. lean — to rest against
  3. press — to push
  4. cold — an illness
  5. mouse — the animal
  6. spring — a coil
  7. mouse — the animal
  8. cold — not warm
  9. court — of law
  10. press — newspapers
  11. court — for sport
  12. spring — the season
  13. temple — side of the head
  14. spring — of water
  15. press — a publisher
  16. mouse — for a computer
  17. court — of a king
  18. lean — to bend
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. mine — for digging
  23. lean — thin
  24. temple — a place of worship

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