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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. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  14. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  15. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  18. We're on a ________________ here.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. That must've been a ________________.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. vault — a safe
  2. toast — a drink to someone
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. file — a line of people
  5. file — a document
  6. roll — a cake
  7. cold — an illness
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. rush — hurry
  10. cell — in biology
  11. vault — in gymnastics
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. rush — to hurry
  14. toast — the most admired
  15. roll — a list
  16. cell — a phone
  17. vault — an arched ceiling
  18. roll — on a roll
  19. file — a tool
  20. toast — bread
  21. cold — not warm
  22. content — happy
  23. rush — a thrill
  24. content — the amount

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