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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: band · vault · mate · perch · dip · cold · file · temple

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  6. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  14. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  15. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  16. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  17. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  18. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  19. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  22. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. When was this ________________ built?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. cold — an illness
  3. mate — a partner
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. mate — to breed
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. band — a ring
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. dip — a sauce
  10. file — a tool
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. band — a music group
  13. perch — the fish
  14. vault — an arched ceiling
  15. vault — in gymnastics
  16. dip — to sink
  17. dip — to dunk
  18. temple — side of the head
  19. mate — a friend
  20. file — a document
  21. vault — a safe
  22. temple — a place of worship
  23. file — a line of people
  24. temple — a place of worship

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