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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: arm · cold · capital · pop · vault · tear

  1. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. My father caught me by the ________________.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — a part of something
  2. cold — not warm
  3. cold — an illness
  4. vault — an arched ceiling
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. vault — a safe
  7. tear — from crying
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. capital — money
  10. pop — to visit
  11. pop — music
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. pop — soda
  14. tear — to rip
  15. tear — from crying
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. capital — a city
  18. vault — in gymnastics

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