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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 ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. David sat on the ________________.
  5. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  6. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  18. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. vault — an arched ceiling
  2. spring — of water
  3. spring — a coil
  4. swing — to play on
  5. pit — in a race
  6. pit — a hole
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. field — farmland
  9. scale — size or range
  10. swing — in golf
  11. clip — a video
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. clip — to cut
  14. spring — the season
  15. swing — music
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. vault — a safe
  18. pit — a fruit stone
  19. field — a subject
  20. trunk — of a car
  21. field — for sport
  22. vault — in gymnastics
  23. clip — for paper
  24. scale — in music

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