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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: bat · lean · sharp · fall · spring · vault · clip · row

  1. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  4. It's one o'clock ________________.
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  10. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  22. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. bat — the animal
  3. vault — in gymnastics
  4. sharp — exactly
  5. fall — to drop
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. sharp — clever
  9. lean — to bend
  10. vault — a safe
  11. fall — to drop
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. row — to paddle
  14. lean — thin
  15. clip — for paper
  16. spring — a coil
  17. fall — the season
  18. row — a line
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. clip — to cut
  21. vault — an arched ceiling
  22. lean — to rest against
  23. spring — of water
  24. clip — a video

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