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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: wind · staff · land · net · cold · lie · race · vault

  1. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  22. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  23. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. land — to come down
  3. staff — a stick
  4. net — after costs
  5. vault — a safe
  6. race — humankind
  7. race — a contest
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. net — in sport
  10. staff — employees
  11. land — ground
  12. wind — moving air
  13. lie — to recline
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. race — the arms race
  16. wind — moving air
  17. lie — an untruth
  18. land — a country
  19. cold — not warm
  20. net — for catching
  21. vault — in gymnastics
  22. vault — an arched ceiling
  23. lie — an untruth
  24. cold — an illness

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