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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. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  2. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  3. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  4. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  5. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  10. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  21. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — to succeed
  2. staff — a stick
  3. pass — to spend time
  4. staff — employees
  5. staff — employees
  6. field — farmland
  7. shower — rain
  8. drill — a practice
  9. pass — a permit
  10. vault — a safe
  11. shower — to wash
  12. club — for dancing
  13. cold — an illness
  14. club — for golf
  15. field — a subject
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. cold — not warm
  18. vault — an arched ceiling
  19. drill — army training
  20. club — a group
  21. vault — in gymnastics
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. field — for sport
  24. drill — the tool

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