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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: last · cold · field · ball · plane · vault · pound · straw

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. The King held a masked ________________.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  7. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  12. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  13. The ________________ took off on time.
  14. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. ball — a dance
  3. last — to go on
  4. pound — a weight
  5. last — final
  6. vault — a safe
  7. vault — an arched ceiling
  8. cold — an illness
  9. cold — not warm
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. pound — to hit hard
  12. ball — a great time
  13. plane — an aircraft
  14. vault — in gymnastics
  15. field — farmland
  16. pound — for dogs
  17. last — finally
  18. field — for sport
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. plane — in geometry
  22. field — a subject
  23. plane — a tool
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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