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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. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  3. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  4. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  14. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. That must've been a ________________.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  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. rush — to hurry
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. vault — an arched ceiling
  4. squash — the vegetable
  5. mine — for digging
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. chest — of your body
  8. chest — a box
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. squash — to crush
  11. cold — an illness
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. perch — the fish
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. cold — not warm
  16. rush — a thrill
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. rush — hurry
  19. bat — the animal
  20. squash — the sport
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. vault — a safe
  23. chest — of your body
  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