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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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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 · season · wind · shower · chest · club · fine

  1. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  17. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  18. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  19. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  20. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  21. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  22. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. chest — of your body
  3. fine — high quality
  4. shower — to wash
  5. club — for golf
  6. vault — an arched ceiling
  7. chest — a box
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. wind — moving air
  10. wind — moving air
  11. shower — rain
  12. vault — in gymnastics
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. chest — of your body
  16. season — of the year
  17. fine — all right
  18. vault — a safe
  19. club — for dancing
  20. fine — a penalty
  21. season — in sport
  22. club — a group
  23. capital — money
  24. capital — a city

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