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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 · snap · pop · last · temple · wound · cold · bark

  1. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. When was this ________________ built?
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. We're almost out of ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  24. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. pop — to visit
  3. temple — a place of worship
  4. cold — an illness
  5. bark — a dog's sound
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. cold — not warm
  8. pop — music
  9. last — to go on
  10. vault — a safe
  11. last — finally
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. temple — a place of worship
  14. wound — an injury
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. bark — to shout
  17. vault — in gymnastics
  18. last — final
  19. pop — soda
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. temple — side of the head
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. vault — an arched ceiling
  24. snap — to click

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