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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: degree · vault · cue · chest · row · cold

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  13. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  14. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  15. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. degree — from a university
  3. chest — of your body
  4. row — a line
  5. vault — a safe
  6. cold — not warm
  7. degree — temperature
  8. row — to paddle
  9. cue — a hint
  10. cold — an illness
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. cue — a signal
  13. vault — in gymnastics
  14. vault — an arched ceiling
  15. cue — for pool
  16. degree — an amount
  17. chest — of your body
  18. chest — a box

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