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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: race · clip · rest · bat · lean · club · vault · date

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  4. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  5. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  9. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  10. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  11. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  12. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  18. Have you settled on a ________________?
  19. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  20. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  23. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  24. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. race — the arms race
  4. vault — a safe
  5. club — a group
  6. race — humankind
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. lean — to bend
  9. club — for golf
  10. date — the fruit
  11. club — for dancing
  12. lean — thin
  13. clip — to cut
  14. race — a contest
  15. rest — what's left
  16. bat — the animal
  17. vault — an arched ceiling
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. lean — to rest against
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. clip — a video
  22. rest — what's left
  23. rest — a break
  24. vault — in gymnastics

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