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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: tear · cold · toast · vault · chest · content

  1. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  2. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  12. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  18. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — bread
  2. content — videos and posts
  3. tear — from crying
  4. content — the amount
  5. tear — from crying
  6. chest — of your body
  7. vault — in gymnastics
  8. cold — an illness
  9. content — happy
  10. chest — of your body
  11. vault — an arched ceiling
  12. toast — a drink to someone
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. chest — a box
  15. cold — not warm
  16. tear — to rip
  17. toast — the most admired
  18. vault — a safe

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