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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. Have you settled on a ________________?
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  11. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  14. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  17. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. branch — of a tree
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. spring — of water
  6. vault — an arched ceiling
  7. spring — a coil
  8. branch — a division
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. vault — a safe
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. spring — the season
  13. board — a committee
  14. vault — in gymnastics
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. board — a flat piece
  17. board — to get on
  18. cold — not warm
  19. mine — for digging
  20. date — the fruit
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. branch — of a bank
  23. cold — an illness
  24. bat — the animal

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