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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: court · vault · pitcher · spring · cold · bear · kid · lean

  1. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  2. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  10. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  18. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — the animal
  2. bear — the animal
  3. cold — not warm
  4. bear — to put up with
  5. spring — the season
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. kid — child
  9. lean — to rest against
  10. lean — to bend
  11. court — for sport
  12. spring — of water
  13. lean — thin
  14. court — of law
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. vault — an arched ceiling
  18. vault — in gymnastics
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. kid — to tease
  21. court — of a king
  22. spring — a coil
  23. cold — an illness
  24. vault — a safe

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