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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. Have you met the new head ________________?
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. That was ________________ to happen.
  11. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  12. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  13. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  18. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  22. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — obliged
  2. prune — to trim
  3. capital — a city
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. rest — a break
  6. cell — a phone
  7. chest — of your body
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. bound — certain
  11. board — to get on
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. coach — pulled by horses
  14. capital — money
  15. bound — tied together
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. rest — what's left
  18. board — a flat piece
  19. cell — in biology
  20. prune — to trim
  21. board — a committee
  22. rest — what's left
  23. chest — of your body
  24. chest — a box

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