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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: vault · file · race · cold · band · wind · board · fine

  1. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  2. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  20. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. race — humankind
  2. board — to get on
  3. band — a ring
  4. cold — an illness
  5. board — a committee
  6. file — a tool
  7. board — a flat piece
  8. race — the arms race
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. cold — not warm
  11. fine — high quality
  12. band — a music group
  13. fine — all right
  14. file — a document
  15. vault — an arched ceiling
  16. race — a contest
  17. wind — moving air
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. vault — a safe
  20. fine — a penalty
  21. wind — moving air
  22. file — a line of people
  23. vault — in gymnastics
  24. band — a rubber band

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