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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: shower · last · arm · pit · squash · content · cold · vault

  1. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  3. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  4. My father caught me by the ________________.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  22. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  23. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  24. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.

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

Answer key

  1. content — videos and posts
  2. pit — a fruit stone
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. last — final
  6. cold — an illness
  7. vault — in gymnastics
  8. shower — rain
  9. pit — in a race
  10. last — finally
  11. squash — the sport
  12. content — happy
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. vault — a safe
  16. last — to go on
  17. shower — to wash
  18. pit — a hole
  19. content — the amount
  20. cold — not warm
  21. arm — a part of something
  22. squash — to crush
  23. vault — an arched ceiling
  24. squash — the vegetable

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