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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 120 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: swing · vault · cold · sharp · bat · row · leaves · wake

  1. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. David sat on the ________________.
  5. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  6. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  7. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  8. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  21. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  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. bat — the animal
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. swing — to play on
  5. wake — a trail
  6. vault — a safe
  7. wake — before a funeral
  8. vault — an arched ceiling
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. cold — not warm
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. swing — in golf
  15. row — to paddle
  16. row — a line
  17. leaves — of a tree
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. swing — music
  20. leaves — lets stay
  21. leaves — to go away
  22. cold — an illness
  23. sharp — clever
  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