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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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Word bank
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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. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  4. The King held a masked ________________.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  8. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  9. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  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. bear — to put up with
  2. spring — a coil
  3. vault — in gymnastics
  4. ball — a dance
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. ball — a great time
  8. vault — an arched ceiling
  9. vault — a safe
  10. chest — of your body
  11. spring — of water
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. wind — moving air
  16. cold — an illness
  17. cold — not warm
  18. bear — the animal
  19. chest — of your body
  20. bear — the animal
  21. spring — the season
  22. chest — a box
  23. bat — the animal
  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