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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 · land · cell · content · wound · chest · temple · cap

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  4. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. When was this ________________ built?
  20. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  21. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. wound — an injury
  3. temple — a place of worship
  4. cap — a lid
  5. land — a country
  6. chest — of your body
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. cap — a hat
  9. chest — a box
  10. vault — in gymnastics
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. cell — a phone
  13. temple — side of the head
  14. cell — in biology
  15. land — to come down
  16. wound — an injury
  17. vault — an arched ceiling
  18. content — the amount
  19. temple — a place of worship
  20. vault — a safe
  21. cap — of ice
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. chest — of your body
  24. content — happy

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