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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. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  14. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  15. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  18. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. vault — a safe
  2. face — to point toward
  3. wind — moving air
  4. spring — a coil
  5. degree — from a university
  6. field — farmland
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. degree — temperature
  9. spring — of water
  10. face — part of the head
  11. field — a subject
  12. spring — the season
  13. lash — to lash out
  14. vault — an arched ceiling
  15. lash — an eyelash
  16. degree — an amount
  17. lash — a whip stroke
  18. vault — in gymnastics
  19. fall — the season
  20. wind — moving air
  21. face — to confront
  22. fall — to drop
  23. fall — to drop
  24. field — for sport

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