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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. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  15. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  18. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  19. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  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. vault — a safe
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. kick — a thrill
  5. stock — goods
  6. rash — hasty
  7. dip — to dunk
  8. file — a tool
  9. stock — shares
  10. dip — to sink
  11. file — a document
  12. capital — a city
  13. bat — the animal
  14. dip — a sauce
  15. rash — on the skin
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. vault — an arched ceiling
  18. rash — a series
  19. kick — with a leg
  20. capital — money
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. file — a line of people
  23. kick — in football
  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