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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 · clip · roll · shower · jam · tear · mine · fork

  1. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  13. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  14. We're on a ________________ here.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  23. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. jam — to spread on bread
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. tear — from crying
  4. clip — a video
  5. tear — to rip
  6. fork — to eat with
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. jam — a tight spot
  9. mine — for digging
  10. vault — an arched ceiling
  11. clip — for paper
  12. vault — a safe
  13. roll — a cake
  14. roll — on a roll
  15. tear — from crying
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. shower — rain
  18. clip — to cut
  19. jam — in traffic
  20. shower — to wash
  21. fork — in a road
  22. vault — in gymnastics
  23. roll — a list
  24. mine — an explosive

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