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

Word bank: bat · court · content · vault · fall · tear

  1. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. content — videos and posts
  2. vault — in gymnastics
  3. content — happy
  4. fall — to drop
  5. court — for sport
  6. vault — a safe
  7. fall — to drop
  8. court — of law
  9. tear — from crying
  10. tear — from crying
  11. vault — an arched ceiling
  12. bat — the animal
  13. court — of a king
  14. content — the amount
  15. tear — to rip
  16. fall — the season
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. bat — for baseball

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