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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: sharp · shower · cold · mine · fine · vault · trunk · race

  1. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. cold — an illness
  3. shower — rain
  4. cold — not warm
  5. shower — to wash
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. fine — all right
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. vault — in gymnastics
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. fine — high quality
  13. sharp — clever
  14. race — a contest
  15. race — the arms race
  16. fine — a penalty
  17. race — humankind
  18. vault — an arched ceiling
  19. mine — for digging
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. vault — a safe
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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