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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 · cold · court · rash · net · bat · land · bulb

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  5. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  15. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. I've got to change the light ________________.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. The light ________________ burned out.
  20. Don't do anything ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. net — in sport
  4. vault — an arched ceiling
  5. vault — in gymnastics
  6. court — of law
  7. court — for sport
  8. land — to come down
  9. land — a country
  10. cold — not warm
  11. net — for catching
  12. bat — the animal
  13. cold — an illness
  14. rash — on the skin
  15. vault — a safe
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. bulb — for light
  18. land — ground
  19. bulb — for light
  20. rash — hasty
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. court — of a king
  23. rash — a series
  24. bulb — of a plant

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