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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: cold · stock · cell · temple · bound · vault · shower · game

  1. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  6. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  10. When was this ________________ built?
  11. That was ________________ to happen.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  21. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. stock — goods
  4. game — a match
  5. temple — side of the head
  6. vault — a safe
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. shower — to wash
  9. temple — a place of worship
  10. temple — a place of worship
  11. bound — certain
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. cell — a phone
  14. cold — not warm
  15. shower — rain
  16. cold — an illness
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. bound — tied together
  19. cell — in biology
  20. vault — an arched ceiling
  21. bound — obliged
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. vault — in gymnastics
  24. stock — shares

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