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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: game · cold · vault · content · toast · ruler · kid · lean

  1. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  2. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  9. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  10. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  11. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  16. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  23. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  24. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. toast — the most admired
  3. game — wild animals
  4. cold — an illness
  5. cold — not warm
  6. content — happy
  7. game — a match
  8. lean — thin
  9. lean — to rest against
  10. ruler — a monarch
  11. vault — an arched ceiling
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. vault — in gymnastics
  14. kid — to tease
  15. toast — bread
  16. vault — a safe
  17. kid — child
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. content — the amount
  22. toast — a drink to someone
  23. ruler — for measuring
  24. ruler — for measuring

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