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

Word bank: vault · capital · field · bowl · snap · pound

  1. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  2. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  3. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a football final
  2. pound — a weight
  3. pound — to hit hard
  4. field — a subject
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. vault — an arched ceiling
  7. snap — to click
  8. bowl — a dish
  9. field — farmland
  10. bowl — to roll
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. vault — in gymnastics
  13. field — for sport
  14. vault — a safe
  15. capital — a city
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. pound — for dogs
  18. capital — money

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