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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  8. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  12. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  15. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. vault — a safe
  2. rock — music
  3. clip — to cut
  4. vault — an arched ceiling
  5. squash — the sport
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. rock — a stone
  8. squash — to crush
  9. degree — an amount
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. rock — to move gently
  12. wax — in the ear
  13. clip — for paper
  14. vault — in gymnastics
  15. wax — to grow
  16. degree — temperature
  17. clip — a video
  18. degree — from a university

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