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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 · cold · field · straw · bound · wind

  1. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. That was ________________ to happen.
  12. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  15. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. wind — moving air
  3. field — a subject
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. wind — moving air
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. cold — not warm
  8. cold — an illness
  9. vault — an arched ceiling
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. bound — certain
  12. vault — in gymnastics
  13. field — farmland
  14. bound — tied together
  15. vault — a safe
  16. bound — obliged
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. field — for sport

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