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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. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  5. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  9. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  10. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  19. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  20. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — bread
  2. wound — an injury
  3. capital — money
  4. club — for dancing
  5. toast — the most admired
  6. chest — of your body
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. vault — an arched ceiling
  9. mark — a trace
  10. club — for golf
  11. chest — of your body
  12. cold — an illness
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. capital — a city
  15. cold — not warm
  16. toast — a drink to someone
  17. chest — a box
  18. mark — to pay attention
  19. mark — a grade
  20. vault — a safe
  21. wound — an injury
  22. club — a group
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. vault — in gymnastics

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