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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. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  2. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  7. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  8. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. When was this ________________ built?
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. He is an ace ________________.
  18. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  19. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. vault — a safe
  2. vault — in gymnastics
  3. last — to go on
  4. last — final
  5. chest — of your body
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. temple — a place of worship
  8. rule — government
  9. last — finally
  10. temple — a place of worship
  11. spring — the season
  12. rule — to rule out
  13. clip — to cut
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. spring — a coil
  16. spring — of water
  17. pitcher — in baseball
  18. rule — a law
  19. temple — side of the head
  20. chest — a box
  21. chest — of your body
  22. vault — an arched ceiling
  23. clip — a video
  24. clip — for paper

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