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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: club · tube · dip · clip · content · bat · spring · vault

  1. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  5. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  8. I'll be taking the ________________.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  13. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  18. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  19. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  20. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  21. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. vault — in gymnastics
  2. content — happy
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. club — for golf
  5. club — for dancing
  6. clip — to cut
  7. vault — an arched ceiling
  8. tube — the underground
  9. content — the amount
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. spring — a coil
  12. dip — a sauce
  13. tube — in a tire
  14. clip — a video
  15. bat — the animal
  16. clip — for paper
  17. dip — to sink
  18. vault — a safe
  19. club — a group
  20. dip — to dunk
  21. tube — a container
  22. spring — the season
  23. spring — of water
  24. bat — in an idiom

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