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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. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  2. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  12. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  13. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  19. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. vault — an arched ceiling
  2. cap — of ice
  3. field — farmland
  4. field — for sport
  5. clip — to cut
  6. cap — a lid
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. field — a subject
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. clip — for paper
  11. bass — low music
  12. cap — a hat
  13. vault — in gymnastics
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. vault — a safe
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. fork — in a road
  19. bass — the fish
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. bass — the instrument
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. fork — to eat with
  24. clip — a video

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