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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 116 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. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  5. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  6. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  17. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. The King held a masked ________________.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. vault — a safe
  2. rock — music
  3. spring — a coil
  4. squash — to crush
  5. rock — to move gently
  6. rock — a stone
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. ball — a great time
  12. spring — of water
  13. spring — the season
  14. vault — in gymnastics
  15. capital — money
  16. ball — a round shape
  17. vault — an arched ceiling
  18. bat — the animal
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. ball — a dance
  21. capital — a city
  22. squash — the sport
  23. squash — the vegetable
  24. straw — a straw man

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