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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: band · cell · field · key · kick · chair · cold · vault

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  7. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. This piece is in a major ________________.
  10. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. band — a music group
  3. cold — not warm
  4. kick — in football
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. kick — with a leg
  7. vault — an arched ceiling
  8. field — farmland
  9. key — in music
  10. key — the most important part
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. cell — a phone
  13. vault — in gymnastics
  14. cold — an illness
  15. band — a ring
  16. cell — in biology
  17. key — for a lock
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. vault — a safe
  22. field — for sport
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. field — a subject

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