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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: cold · capital · vault · chest · pitcher · bat · arm · wave

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  7. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  12. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. My father caught me by the ________________.
  15. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  16. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  20. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. bat — the animal
  4. chest — a box
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. vault — a safe
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. cold — not warm
  9. chest — of your body
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. arm — a part of something
  12. vault — an arched ceiling
  13. capital — a city
  14. arm — part of the body
  15. wave — a sudden rise
  16. wave — with your hand
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. wave — of the sea
  20. vault — in gymnastics
  21. chest — of your body
  22. capital — money
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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