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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 120 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: tear · squash · net · content · trunk · cold · bore · vault

  1. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  2. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  23. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. vault — an arched ceiling
  2. squash — to crush
  3. cold — not warm
  4. bore — to drill
  5. tear — from crying
  6. vault — a safe
  7. tear — from crying
  8. bore — gave birth
  9. net — after costs
  10. net — in sport
  11. tear — to rip
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. bore — to tire
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. cold — an illness
  18. net — for catching
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. trunk — of a car
  21. content — the amount
  22. squash — the sport
  23. vault — in gymnastics
  24. content — happy

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