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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: wind · vault · mate · row · rush · tear · rash · cold

  1. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. That must've been a ________________.
  6. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  7. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  8. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  9. Have you found your soul ________________?
  10. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  11. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  16. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. I seem to be developing a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. wind — moving air
  3. cold — an illness
  4. wind — moving air
  5. rush — a thrill
  6. mate — to breed
  7. rush — to hurry
  8. rash — a series
  9. mate — a partner
  10. rush — hurry
  11. vault — in gymnastics
  12. cold — not warm
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. tear — to rip
  15. vault — a safe
  16. mate — a friend
  17. row — a line
  18. row — to paddle
  19. tear — from crying
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. tear — from crying
  22. vault — an arched ceiling
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. rash — on the skin

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