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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. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  9. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. You don't need to ________________ round.
  19. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. pop — soda
  4. hide — animal skin
  5. shower — to wash
  6. vault — an arched ceiling
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. hide — to keep secret
  10. game — a match
  11. pop — music
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. cell — a phone
  14. vault — a safe
  15. shower — rain
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. pop — to visit
  19. vault — in gymnastics
  20. game — wild animals
  21. cold — not warm
  22. cold — an illness
  23. cell — in biology
  24. mine — for digging

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