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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: club · vault · clip · bore · mine · race · game · field

  1. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  9. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  10. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  11. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.

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

Answer key

  1. club — a group
  2. club — for dancing
  3. race — a contest
  4. game — wild animals
  5. field — farmland
  6. mine — for digging
  7. clip — to cut
  8. bore — gave birth
  9. bore — to drill
  10. vault — a safe
  11. club — for golf
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. race — the arms race
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. field — for sport
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. race — humankind
  18. field — a subject
  19. game — a match
  20. bore — to tire
  21. clip — for paper
  22. vault — in gymnastics
  23. clip — a video
  24. vault — an arched ceiling

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