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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: safe · chest · fall · field · band · drill · vault · bat

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. vault — an arched ceiling
  3. fall — the season
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. fall — to drop
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. chest — of your body
  8. vault — a safe
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. drill — a practice
  11. band — a music group
  12. drill — the tool
  13. chest — of your body
  14. field — for sport
  15. vault — in gymnastics
  16. field — farmland
  17. safe — out of danger
  18. fall — to drop
  19. drill — army training
  20. bat — the animal
  21. safe — out of danger
  22. chest — a box
  23. safe — a strongbox
  24. field — a subject

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