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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 116 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 ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  2. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  10. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  11. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  16. That must've been a ________________.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  19. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  20. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  24. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — a sauce
  2. vault — a safe
  3. clip — to cut
  4. field — for sport
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. court — for sport
  7. clip — for paper
  8. field — farmland
  9. chip — to eat
  10. chip — in a computer
  11. vault — in gymnastics
  12. cold — not warm
  13. clip — a video
  14. cold — an illness
  15. rush — to hurry
  16. rush — a thrill
  17. field — a subject
  18. dip — to sink
  19. vault — an arched ceiling
  20. dip — to dunk
  21. court — of a king
  22. court — of law
  23. rush — hurry
  24. chip — for betting

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