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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: fork · cap · vault · sharp · roll · bat · tear · clip

  1. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  5. We're on a ________________ here.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  9. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  10. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  20. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.

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

Answer key

  1. vault — a safe
  2. clip — a video
  3. clip — to cut
  4. cap — of ice
  5. roll — on a roll
  6. clip — for paper
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. roll — a list
  9. fork — to eat with
  10. roll — a cake
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. sharp — with an edge
  14. tear — from crying
  15. fork — in a road
  16. cap — a hat
  17. sharp — clever
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. vault — in gymnastics
  20. cap — a lid
  21. bat — the animal
  22. tear — from crying
  23. tear — to rip
  24. vault — an arched ceiling

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