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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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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 · capital · bowl · bore · clip · scale · cold · pop

  1. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  2. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  11. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. We're almost out of ________________.
  16. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. You don't need to ________________ round.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  22. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a football final
  2. vault — an arched ceiling
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. scale — size or range
  5. bore — to tire
  6. capital — money
  7. capital — a city
  8. cold — not warm
  9. clip — to cut
  10. bowl — to roll
  11. vault — a safe
  12. cold — an illness
  13. vault — in gymnastics
  14. clip — a video
  15. pop — soda
  16. pop — music
  17. scale — in music
  18. clip — for paper
  19. pop — to visit
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. bore — to drill
  22. bore — gave birth
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. bowl — a dish

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