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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  4. You don't need to ________________ round.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  11. We're almost out of ________________.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. vault — a safe
  4. pop — to visit
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. spell — letters
  7. tube — the underground
  8. race — humankind
  9. spell — magic
  10. vault — in gymnastics
  11. pop — soda
  12. prune — to trim
  13. prune — to trim
  14. race — a contest
  15. vault — an arched ceiling
  16. race — the arms race
  17. tube — a container
  18. land — ground
  19. spell — a short time
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. cold — an illness
  22. pop — music
  23. cold — not warm
  24. land — a country

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