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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 116 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 · pitch · race · cell · pit · bark · rush · clip

  1. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  8. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. That must've been a ________________.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  18. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  19. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  22. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  23. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. race — humankind
  3. pit — in a race
  4. clip — a video
  5. pitch — completely
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. vault — in gymnastics
  8. pit — a fruit stone
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. rush — a thrill
  11. clip — to cut
  12. pit — a hole
  13. cell — a phone
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. clip — for paper
  16. race — the arms race
  17. rush — to hurry
  18. vault — a safe
  19. pitch — a sports field
  20. race — a contest
  21. pitch — a sales talk
  22. vault — an arched ceiling
  23. bark — to shout
  24. cell — in biology

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