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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: cold · last · land · wax · vault · perch · chest · pitcher

  1. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  17. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  18. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. Fill up this ________________ with water.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. chest — a box
  3. land — ground
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. cold — an illness
  8. vault — an arched ceiling
  9. wax — to grow
  10. last — finally
  11. cold — not warm
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. vault — in gymnastics
  15. chest — of your body
  16. perch — the fish
  17. vault — a safe
  18. wax — in the ear
  19. land — to come down
  20. last — to go on
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. last — final
  23. land — a country
  24. pitcher — a jug

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