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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 120 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: march · chest · vault · race · drill · chip · cue · cold

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  16. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  17. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  18. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  22. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  23. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  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. cold — not warm
  2. march — music
  3. march — the month
  4. drill — the tool
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. chest — a box
  7. drill — army training
  8. race — the arms race
  9. cue — a hint
  10. race — a contest
  11. drill — a practice
  12. race — humankind
  13. chip — to eat
  14. march — the month
  15. cue — for pool
  16. chip — for betting
  17. chip — in a computer
  18. vault — in gymnastics
  19. chest — of your body
  20. chest — of your body
  21. cue — a signal
  22. vault — a safe
  23. vault — an arched ceiling
  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