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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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  4. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  5. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  8. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  9. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. The ________________ went through the wall.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. spring — a coil
  3. mark — a trace
  4. vault — a safe
  5. season — in sport
  6. cell — in biology
  7. season — of the year
  8. vault — in gymnastics
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. cell — a phone
  11. spring — the season
  12. mark — to pay attention
  13. clip — for paper
  14. row — to paddle
  15. clip — to cut
  16. row — a line
  17. mark — a grade
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. spring — of water
  21. clip — a video
  22. vault — an arched ceiling
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. nail — on a finger

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