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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 120 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 big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  20. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. vault — an arched ceiling
  2. stem — of a plant
  3. hand — in cards
  4. file — a line of people
  5. ground — the earth
  6. cold — an illness
  7. kid — child
  8. stem — to come from
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. file — a document
  11. cell — a phone
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. kid — to tease
  14. hand — help
  15. vault — in gymnastics
  16. ground — crushed
  17. cold — not warm
  18. file — a tool
  19. vault — a safe
  20. stem — a stem cell
  21. cell — in biology
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. ground — a position
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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