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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 116 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: vault · kick · staff · cold · field · band · can · wake

  1. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  15. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  16. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  22. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. staff — employees
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. wake — to stop sleeping
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. vault — an arched ceiling
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. staff — a stick
  10. band — a ring
  11. field — a subject
  12. can — a tin
  13. field — for sport
  14. can — a tin
  15. vault — a safe
  16. can — to be able to
  17. field — farmland
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. cold — not warm
  20. cold — an illness
  21. kick — in football
  22. vault — in gymnastics
  23. wake — a trail
  24. staff — employees

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