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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 116 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: trunk · vault · capital · shower · cold · hide · rush · clip

  1. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  4. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  9. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  21. That must've been a ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — a meteor shower
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. vault — in gymnastics
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. hide — animal skin
  9. rush — to hurry
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. capital — a city
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. clip — a video
  14. vault — a safe
  15. capital — money
  16. shower — rain
  17. cold — an illness
  18. vault — an arched ceiling
  19. shower — to wash
  20. rush — hurry
  21. rush — a thrill
  22. clip — to cut
  23. cold — not warm
  24. clip — for paper

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