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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: fork · chest · clip · vault · pitcher · tear

  1. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  11. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. He is an ace ________________.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — a garden tool
  2. tear — from crying
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. clip — a video
  5. clip — to cut
  6. chest — of your body
  7. fork — in a road
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. chest — of your body
  10. vault — in gymnastics
  11. vault — a safe
  12. clip — for paper
  13. vault — an arched ceiling
  14. tear — to rip
  15. pitcher — in baseball
  16. chest — a box
  17. tear — from crying
  18. pitcher — a jug

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