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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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Word bank
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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: prune · cold · track · shower · wound · club · vault · capital

  1. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  15. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  20. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  21. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. shower — rain
  3. wound — an injury
  4. vault — a safe
  5. prune — to trim
  6. club — for golf
  7. shower — to wash
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. club — a group
  12. cold — not warm
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. vault — an arched ceiling
  15. club — for dancing
  16. prune — to trim
  17. capital — a city
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. track — a path
  20. vault — in gymnastics
  21. track — a song
  22. wound — an injury
  23. track — to keep track
  24. cold — an illness

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