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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: chest · fork · racket · clip · vault · cold · coach · ground

  1. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Have you met the new head ________________?
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. chest — of your body
  3. clip — a video
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. chest — a box
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. ground — the earth
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. cold — an illness
  11. vault — a safe
  12. ground — a position
  13. clip — for paper
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. ground — crushed
  16. racket — a loud noise
  17. clip — to cut
  18. vault — in gymnastics
  19. cold — not warm
  20. vault — an arched ceiling
  21. fork — in a road
  22. racket — for tennis
  23. chest — of your body
  24. fork — a garden tool

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