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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  17. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  23. This piece is in a major ________________.
  24. How do you ________________ your surname?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. mine — for digging
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. chest — of your body
  5. chest — a box
  6. spell — a short time
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. vault — an arched ceiling
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. vault — a safe
  11. cold — not warm
  12. shower — rain
  13. spell — magic
  14. chest — of your body
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. key — the most important part
  17. key — for a lock
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. shower — to wash
  20. cold — an illness
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. vault — in gymnastics
  23. key — in music
  24. spell — letters

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