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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: kid · fan · wind · temple · clip · vault · spring · rock

  1. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  6. When was this ________________ built?
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  16. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  20. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  21. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  22. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. We were using a ________________ as a seat.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — to cool the air
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. spring — the season
  4. kid — to tease
  5. vault — in gymnastics
  6. temple — a place of worship
  7. spring — a coil
  8. wind — moving air
  9. temple — a place of worship
  10. clip — a video
  11. wind — moving air
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. spring — of water
  15. rock — music
  16. rock — to move gently
  17. clip — for paper
  18. clip — to cut
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. vault — an arched ceiling
  21. vault — a safe
  22. temple — side of the head
  23. kid — child
  24. rock — a stone

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