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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Did you ________________ the meat?
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  10. We're on a ________________ here.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  16. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  24. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. vault — a safe
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. land — to come down
  5. cold — an illness
  6. season — to add flavour
  7. mine — for digging
  8. clip — for paper
  9. season — of the year
  10. roll — on a roll
  11. cold — not warm
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. race — humankind
  14. race — the arms race
  15. vault — an arched ceiling
  16. roll — a list
  17. clip — a video
  18. roll — a cake
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. land — a country
  21. race — a contest
  22. clip — to cut
  23. season — in sport
  24. vault — in gymnastics

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