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

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  8. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  16. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. vault — a safe
  3. prune — to trim
  4. chair — a leader
  5. row — to paddle
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. current — of water
  8. vault — an arched ceiling
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. cold — an illness
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. prune — to trim
  13. current — happening now
  14. cold — not warm
  15. current — electric
  16. vault — in gymnastics
  17. row — a line
  18. chair — to sit on

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