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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 120 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: kid · band · vault · cold · shower · trunk · stem · staff

  1. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  7. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  11. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — a stem cell
  2. staff — employees
  3. kid — child
  4. trunk — of a car
  5. band — a music group
  6. vault — in gymnastics
  7. vault — a safe
  8. shower — rain
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. staff — employees
  11. stem — to come from
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. band — a ring
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. stem — of a plant
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. kid — to tease
  19. vault — an arched ceiling
  20. cold — an illness
  21. staff — a stick
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. shower — to wash
  24. cold — not warm

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