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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 116 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. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  6. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  14. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a line of people
  2. mine — for digging
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. vault — a safe
  6. vault — an arched ceiling
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. cap — of ice
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. file — a tool
  11. cap — a lid
  12. wake — a trail
  13. vault — in gymnastics
  14. cap — a hat
  15. file — a document
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. wake — to stop sleeping

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