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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: content · craft · mark · bowl · vault · saw · cold · field

  1. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  2. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  3. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  4. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  5. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  6. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  14. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  15. He works in a ________________ mill.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  22. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. vault — an arched ceiling
  2. craft — boats
  3. mark — to pay attention
  4. vault — a safe
  5. saw — past of 'see'
  6. bowl — a football final
  7. content — happy
  8. content — the amount
  9. field — a subject
  10. craft — a handicraft
  11. field — farmland
  12. saw — the tool
  13. mark — a grade
  14. craft — a skill
  15. saw — the tool
  16. cold — an illness
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. bowl — a dish
  19. cold — not warm
  20. field — for sport
  21. vault — in gymnastics
  22. bowl — to roll
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. mark — a trace

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