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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. The ________________ went through the wall.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  16. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  20. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — for a hammer
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. nail — on a finger
  4. chair — a leader
  5. cold — an illness
  6. field — farmland
  7. hide — animal skin
  8. field — for sport
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. file — a line of people
  13. cell — a phone
  14. cold — not warm
  15. vault — a safe
  16. vault — in gymnastics
  17. cell — in biology
  18. field — a subject
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. file — a tool
  23. file — a document
  24. vault — an arched ceiling

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