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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. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  14. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  19. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. vault — a safe
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. wound — an injury
  5. capital — a city
  6. net — after costs
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. net — in sport
  10. wound — an injury
  11. mine — for digging
  12. cell — a phone
  13. patient — calm and waiting
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. net — for catching
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. cell — in biology
  18. vault — in gymnastics
  19. sharp — clever
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. capital — money
  22. vault — an arched ceiling
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. cell — in a prison

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