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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: field · wound · vault · chest · tear · scale · cabinet · rule

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. What do you think of the new ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. tear — from crying
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. cabinet — a cupboard
  5. chest — a box
  6. rule — a law
  7. tear — from crying
  8. rule — to rule out
  9. field — for sport
  10. vault — in gymnastics
  11. wound — an injury
  12. chest — of your body
  13. rule — government
  14. wound — an injury
  15. vault — an arched ceiling
  16. scale — in music
  17. cabinet — ministers
  18. field — farmland
  19. vault — a safe
  20. tear — to rip
  21. scale — size or range
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. field — a subject
  24. cabinet — ministers

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