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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: vault · hand · wind · chair · date · snap · cabinet · game

  1. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. Have you settled on a ________________?
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. What do you think of the new ________________?
  7. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  8. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  23. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. game — wild animals
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. cabinet — ministers
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. vault — a safe
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. hand — help
  12. chair — a leader
  13. date — the fruit
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. wind — moving air
  17. vault — an arched ceiling
  18. hand — in cards
  19. vault — in gymnastics
  20. game — a match
  21. wind — moving air
  22. cabinet — ministers
  23. cabinet — a cupboard
  24. wind — to turn a key

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