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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. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. vault — in gymnastics
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. tear — from crying
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. bark — to shout
  6. tear — to rip
  7. vault — a safe
  8. hand — in cards
  9. clip — to cut
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. shower — rain
  12. clip — for paper
  13. bat — the animal
  14. shower — to wash
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. chest — of your body
  17. clip — a video
  18. chest — of your body
  19. vault — an arched ceiling
  20. hand — help
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. tear — from crying
  24. chest — a box

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