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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. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  7. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  14. That must've been a ________________.
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. The polar ice ________________ is melting.

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

Answer key

  1. vault — a safe
  2. degree — from a university
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. rush — hurry
  5. degree — an amount
  6. vault — in gymnastics
  7. cap — a hat
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. cap — a lid
  11. rush — to hurry
  12. court — of a king
  13. vault — an arched ceiling
  14. rush — a thrill
  15. fork — in a road
  16. cell — in biology
  17. chair — a leader
  18. chair — a professorship
  19. court — of law
  20. court — for sport
  21. cell — a phone
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. degree — temperature
  24. cap — of ice

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