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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. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. My father caught me by the ________________.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  11. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  18. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  24. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.

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

Answer key

  1. vault — a safe
  2. face — to point toward
  3. vault — in gymnastics
  4. degree — from a university
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. clip — to cut
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. degree — an amount
  10. vault — an arched ceiling
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. row — a line
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. degree — temperature
  15. face — to confront
  16. clip — for paper
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. arm — a part of something
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. face — part of the head
  21. row — to paddle
  22. clip — a video
  23. patient — calm and waiting
  24. patient — a sick person

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