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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: kid · vault · season · rule · track · snap · row · cold

  1. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  12. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  13. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  16. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  21. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  22. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  23. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  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. season — to add flavour
  2. vault — an arched ceiling
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. kid — to tease
  5. row — to paddle
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. snap — to click
  10. row — a line
  11. track — to keep track
  12. rule — to rule out
  13. rule — a law
  14. cold — not warm
  15. track — a path
  16. season — of the year
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. kid — child
  19. cold — an illness
  20. season — in sport
  21. rule — government
  22. track — a song
  23. vault — in gymnastics
  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