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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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Word bank
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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 water is too ________________.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  7. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  22. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  23. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. fine — a penalty
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. trunk — of a tree
  7. fine — all right
  8. game — wild animals
  9. vault — in gymnastics
  10. game — a match
  11. net — for catching
  12. band — a music group
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. band — a ring
  15. fine — high quality
  16. spring — the season
  17. spring — a coil
  18. cold — an illness
  19. net — in sport
  20. net — after costs
  21. trunk — of an elephant
  22. vault — a safe
  23. vault — an arched ceiling
  24. spring — of water

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