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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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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: file · vault · field · spring · capital · race

  1. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. vault — a safe
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. field — farmland
  4. spring — a coil
  5. field — for sport
  6. race — the arms race
  7. spring — of water
  8. race — a contest
  9. spring — the season
  10. race — humankind
  11. vault — in gymnastics
  12. file — a tool
  13. field — a subject
  14. capital — a city
  15. vault — an arched ceiling
  16. file — a document
  17. capital — money
  18. file — a line of people

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