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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: tear · vault · cold · bass · field · jam · cabinet · wound

  1. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. What do you think of the new ________________?
  8. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  9. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  10. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  14. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  23. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. vault — a safe
  2. wound — an injury
  3. cold — not warm
  4. field — farmland
  5. cold — an illness
  6. bass — low music
  7. cabinet — ministers
  8. vault — in gymnastics
  9. cabinet — ministers
  10. vault — an arched ceiling
  11. tear — from crying
  12. field — a subject
  13. cabinet — a cupboard
  14. jam — to spread on bread
  15. wound — an injury
  16. tear — to rip
  17. jam — a tight spot
  18. tear — from crying
  19. bass — the instrument
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. field — for sport
  22. jam — in traffic
  23. bass — the fish
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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