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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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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: vault · chest · wound · swing · clip · spring · leaves · ground

  1. There's no middle ________________.
  2. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  11. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  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. ground — a position
  2. vault — an arched ceiling
  3. wound — an injury
  4. clip — a video
  5. leaves — of a tree
  6. swing — to play on
  7. chest — a box
  8. spring — of water
  9. clip — to cut
  10. leaves — to go away
  11. vault — a safe
  12. clip — for paper
  13. ground — the earth
  14. chest — of your body
  15. spring — a coil
  16. swing — music
  17. spring — the season
  18. wound — an injury
  19. ground — crushed
  20. leaves — lets stay
  21. chest — of your body
  22. swing — in golf
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  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