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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  5. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  11. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  14. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  15. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. vault — a safe
  2. wind — moving air
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. vault — an arched ceiling
  5. dip — a sauce
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. clip — to cut
  8. file — a document
  9. shower — rain
  10. toast — a drink to someone
  11. dip — to dunk
  12. file — a tool
  13. toast — bread
  14. vault — in gymnastics
  15. toast — the most admired
  16. clip — a video
  17. dip — to sink
  18. capital — money
  19. capital — a city
  20. clip — for paper
  21. wind — moving air
  22. file — a line of people
  23. shower — to wash
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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