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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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Word bank
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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 · kid · fork · clip · chest · kick

  1. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  9. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  12. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. vault — an arched ceiling
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. vault — a safe
  5. clip — for paper
  6. chest — of your body
  7. clip — a video
  8. kick — in football
  9. fork — to eat with
  10. chest — a box
  11. vault — in gymnastics
  12. kick — a thrill
  13. kid — to tease
  14. kid — child
  15. chest — of your body
  16. kick — with a leg
  17. fork — in a road
  18. clip — to cut

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