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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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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: face · band · vault · present · shower · bat · wind · clip

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  8. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  24. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. band — a music group
  3. shower — to wash
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. face — to point toward
  6. face — to confront
  7. vault — an arched ceiling
  8. present — a gift
  9. wind — moving air
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. clip — to cut
  13. vault — in gymnastics
  14. band — a ring
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. clip — for paper
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. face — part of the head
  19. bat — the animal
  20. clip — a video
  21. present — there
  22. shower — rain
  23. present — the time now
  24. vault — a safe

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