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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: cold · degree · pound · court · hide · wound · temple · staff

  1. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  2. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  3. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  10. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  11. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  12. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. When was this ________________ built?
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  23. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  24. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. hide — animal skin
  3. temple — side of the head
  4. cold — an illness
  5. court — for sport
  6. cold — not warm
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. court — of a king
  9. pound — to hit hard
  10. staff — a stick
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. staff — employees
  13. wound — an injury
  14. degree — an amount
  15. staff — employees
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. temple — a place of worship
  18. court — of law
  19. degree — temperature
  20. wound — an injury
  21. degree — from a university
  22. pound — a weight
  23. hide — to keep secret
  24. pound — for dogs

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