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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 120 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 ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  2. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  3. She's very handy with a ________________.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  21. He works in a ________________ mill.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. vault — an arched ceiling
  2. saw — past of 'see'
  3. saw — the tool
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. lash — a whip stroke
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. vault — a safe
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. row — a line
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. vault — in gymnastics
  12. cold — an illness
  13. cold — not warm
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. court — for sport
  16. court — of a king
  17. lash — to lash out
  18. wind — moving air
  19. court — of law
  20. lash — an eyelash
  21. saw — the tool
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. row — to paddle
  24. wind — moving air

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