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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 116 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. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  13. Where did you ________________ them?
  14. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  18. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  21. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. vault — a safe
  3. cold — not warm
  4. vault — an arched ceiling
  5. kid — to tease
  6. tear — from crying
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. bass — the fish
  9. tear — to rip
  10. tear — from crying
  11. kid — child
  12. vault — in gymnastics
  13. mug — to rob
  14. staff — employees
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. mug — a face
  18. bass — low music
  19. cold — an illness
  20. staff — a stick
  21. bass — the instrument
  22. shower — rain
  23. mug — a cup
  24. shower — to wash

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