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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. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. That must've been a ________________.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. That was ________________ to happen.
  9. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  16. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  17. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. vault — a safe
  2. bound — tied together
  3. degree — an amount
  4. rush — a thrill
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. field — a subject
  7. degree — from a university
  8. bound — certain
  9. rush — hurry
  10. field — for sport
  11. vault — an arched ceiling
  12. race — a contest
  13. field — farmland
  14. race — the arms race
  15. rush — to hurry
  16. vault — in gymnastics
  17. bound — obliged
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. degree — temperature
  20. mine — for digging
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. race — humankind
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. mine — belonging to me

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