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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: present · arm · content · temple · bass · cold · root · bark

  1. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  5. When was this ________________ built?
  6. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  7. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  8. My father caught me by the ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  12. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  13. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  18. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  19. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  24. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — side of the head
  2. content — happy
  3. cold — not warm
  4. root — of a plant
  5. temple — a place of worship
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. present — there
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. bass — the fish
  12. root — of a word
  13. arm — a part of something
  14. cold — an illness
  15. bark — to shout
  16. content — the amount
  17. bass — low music
  18. present — a gift
  19. temple — a place of worship
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. bass — the instrument
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. root — the cause
  24. present — the time now

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