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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  5. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  6. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  9. I'll be taking the ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  15. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  16. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  17. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  23. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  24. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. tube — a container
  3. ground — a position
  4. pit — in a race
  5. calf — of the leg
  6. pit — a fruit stone
  7. ground — the earth
  8. calf — a young animal
  9. tube — the underground
  10. cold — not warm
  11. craft — boats
  12. ground — crushed
  13. clip — to cut
  14. craft — a handicraft
  15. craft — a skill
  16. pit — a hole
  17. calf — a young animal
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. tube — in a tire
  20. clip — a video
  21. cold — an illness
  22. vault — an arched ceiling
  23. vault — a safe
  24. vault — in gymnastics

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