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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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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 · rush · fork · fall · game · fan · chest · bass

  1. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  2. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  8. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  16. That must've been a ________________.
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  23. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. fall — the season
  3. rush — hurry
  4. fan — to cool the air
  5. chest — a box
  6. chest — of your body
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. rush — to hurry
  9. fall — to drop
  10. chest — of your body
  11. fall — to drop
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. vault — an arched ceiling
  16. rush — a thrill
  17. bass — the fish
  18. fork — to eat with
  19. game — a match
  20. vault — a safe
  21. fork — in a road
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. vault — in gymnastics
  24. game — wild animals

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