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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. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. Boris sat near the fire ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — to come from
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. vault — a safe
  4. bat — the animal
  5. pit — a fruit stone
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. chest — a box
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. drill — army training
  10. snap — to click
  11. chest — of your body
  12. vault — in gymnastics
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. pit — in a race
  16. capital — money
  17. chest — of your body
  18. drill — the tool
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. vault — an arched ceiling
  22. drill — a practice
  23. capital — a city
  24. pit — a hole

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