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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: pit · date · cold · vault · race · chest

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  13. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. Have you settled on a ________________?
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. vault — a safe
  3. chest — of your body
  4. cold — an illness
  5. race — the arms race
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. vault — an arched ceiling
  9. race — a contest
  10. vault — in gymnastics
  11. race — humankind
  12. pit — a fruit stone
  13. pit — a hole
  14. cold — not warm
  15. date — the fruit
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. chest — a box
  18. pit — in a race

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