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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. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  3. When was this ________________ built?
  4. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  5. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  9. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  14. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  18. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. vault — a safe
  2. temple — side of the head
  3. temple — a place of worship
  4. rock — to move gently
  5. can — to be able to
  6. degree — from a university
  7. ground — crushed
  8. rock — music
  9. vault — in gymnastics
  10. cold — an illness
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. can — a tin
  14. rock — a stone
  15. ground — a position
  16. bat — the animal
  17. vault — an arched ceiling
  18. temple — a place of worship
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. degree — an amount
  21. degree — temperature
  22. cold — not warm
  23. can — a tin
  24. ground — the earth

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