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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: snap · march · pit · pass · temple · mine · content · cold

  1. When was this ________________ built?
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  11. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  23. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  24. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. pit — in a race
  4. cold — an illness
  5. temple — a place of worship
  6. cold — not warm
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. march — music
  9. mine — for digging
  10. pass — a permit
  11. temple — side of the head
  12. march — the month
  13. pass — to succeed
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. content — happy
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. content — the amount
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. march — the month
  20. snap — to click
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. pit — a fruit stone
  23. pit — a hole
  24. pass — to spend time

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