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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: fork · net · race · leaves · snap · cold · vault · land

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  6. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  10. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  11. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  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. cold — not warm
  2. net — after costs
  3. cold — an illness
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. leaves — lets stay
  6. fork — to eat with
  7. land — ground
  8. race — the arms race
  9. fork — in a road
  10. vault — a safe
  11. leaves — of a tree
  12. net — for catching
  13. snap — to click
  14. land — to come down
  15. vault — an arched ceiling
  16. race — humankind
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. race — a contest
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. land — a country
  21. net — in sport
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. leaves — to go away
  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