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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: chest · chip · pop · vault · shower · file · bay · cold

  1. My mare is ________________ in color.
  2. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  3. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  9. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. We're almost out of ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. You don't need to ________________ round.
  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. bay — a horse colour
  2. chip — in a computer
  3. bay — a part of the sea
  4. chest — of your body
  5. chest — of your body
  6. file — a line of people
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. vault — an arched ceiling
  9. bay — to keep at bay
  10. shower — to wash
  11. cold — not warm
  12. chip — to eat
  13. shower — rain
  14. pop — music
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. file — a document
  17. chip — for betting
  18. file — a tool
  19. pop — soda
  20. cold — an illness
  21. vault — in gymnastics
  22. chest — a box
  23. pop — to visit
  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