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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. That was ________________ to happen.
  2. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  21. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  22. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — certain
  2. bound — obliged
  3. chest — of your body
  4. march — the month
  5. net — for catching
  6. bound — tied together
  7. net — after costs
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. staff — employees
  10. spring — a coil
  11. kid — child
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. fork — in a road
  14. chest — a box
  15. kid — to tease
  16. chest — of your body
  17. spring — of water
  18. spring — the season
  19. march — music
  20. staff — a stick
  21. staff — employees
  22. fork — a garden tool
  23. net — in sport
  24. march — the month

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