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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: temple · wound · court · vault · cap · clip · spring · cold

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. When was this ________________ built?
  3. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  4. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  5. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  18. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. temple — a place of worship
  3. cap — a lid
  4. cap — of ice
  5. cap — a hat
  6. clip — to cut
  7. cold — an illness
  8. spring — a coil
  9. clip — for paper
  10. wound — an injury
  11. spring — the season
  12. court — of law
  13. vault — a safe
  14. court — of a king
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. court — for sport
  17. temple — side of the head
  18. vault — an arched ceiling
  19. clip — a video
  20. spring — of water
  21. temple — a place of worship
  22. wound — an injury
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. vault — in gymnastics

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