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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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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 · bat · capital · pit · chest · snap

  1. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  6. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  15. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  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. snap — to click
  2. chest — of your body
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. pit — in a race
  6. vault — a safe
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. pit — a hole
  9. capital — a city
  10. bat — the animal
  11. pit — a fruit stone
  12. chest — a box
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. vault — an arched ceiling
  15. vault — in gymnastics
  16. chest — of your body
  17. bat — for baseball
  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