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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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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: chip · tear · clip · cold · land · tube · stem · vault

  1. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. I'll be taking the ________________.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  9. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  15. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. vault — in gymnastics
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. clip — a video
  4. cold — not warm
  5. cold — an illness
  6. tube — the underground
  7. land — ground
  8. chip — for betting
  9. chip — in a computer
  10. land — to come down
  11. tear — to rip
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. vault — an arched ceiling
  15. stem — to come from
  16. clip — for paper
  17. tear — from crying
  18. vault — a safe
  19. tear — from crying
  20. tube — a container
  21. land — a country
  22. clip — to cut
  23. chip — to eat
  24. tube — in a tire

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