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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 · craft · land · spring · court · degree · temple · cell

  1. When are we going to ________________?
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  4. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. When was this ________________ built?

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. spring — of water
  3. temple — side of the head
  4. craft — boats
  5. court — for sport
  6. court — of law
  7. degree — an amount
  8. craft — a skill
  9. spring — the season
  10. craft — a handicraft
  11. land — a country
  12. vault — in gymnastics
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. spring — a coil
  15. vault — a safe
  16. court — of a king
  17. degree — temperature
  18. degree — from a university
  19. cell — in biology
  20. vault — an arched ceiling
  21. land — ground
  22. temple — a place of worship
  23. cell — a phone
  24. temple — a place of worship

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