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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.

Make a worksheet

Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
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: root · straw · vault · spell · hand · ground · cold · pop

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  10. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  13. You don't need to ________________ round.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. How do you ________________ your surname?
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  24. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. ground — a position
  3. pop — soda
  4. cold — not warm
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. root — the cause
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. cold — an illness
  9. vault — a safe
  10. root — of a word
  11. ground — the earth
  12. root — of a plant
  13. pop — to visit
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. hand — in cards
  17. vault — an arched ceiling
  18. spell — a short time
  19. pop — music
  20. spell — magic
  21. spell — letters
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. ground — crushed
  24. vault — in gymnastics

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