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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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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: net · bore · club · temple · patient · march · chest · clip

  1. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  2. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  3. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  4. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  8. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  13. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  14. When was this ________________ built?
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. temple — a place of worship
  3. temple — side of the head
  4. bore — gave birth
  5. net — in sport
  6. chest — of your body
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. patient — calm and waiting
  9. clip — a video
  10. clip — to cut
  11. clip — for paper
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. club — a group
  14. temple — a place of worship
  15. chest — a box
  16. chest — of your body
  17. march — the month
  18. club — for dancing
  19. net — after costs
  20. march — the month
  21. bore — to tire
  22. march — music
  23. bore — to drill
  24. net — for catching

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