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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. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Did you ________________ the meat?
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  11. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  12. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  13. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  14. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  15. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.

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

Answer key

  1. season — of the year
  2. game — a match
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. squash — the vegetable
  5. clip — to cut
  6. season — to add flavour
  7. game — wild animals
  8. ground — crushed
  9. clip — for paper
  10. vault — a safe
  11. season — in sport
  12. vault — in gymnastics
  13. dip — to dunk
  14. squash — to crush
  15. squash — the sport
  16. ground — the earth
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. dip — to sink
  19. clip — a video
  20. ground — a position
  21. shower — to wash
  22. dip — a sauce
  23. shower — rain
  24. vault — an arched ceiling

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