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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  4. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. That was ________________ to happen.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  23. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  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. chair — a professorship
  2. kid — to tease
  3. craft — a handicraft
  4. bound — obliged
  5. chair — a leader
  6. cell — a phone
  7. craft — boats
  8. clip — to cut
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. kid — child
  11. vault — an arched ceiling
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. clip — a video
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. bound — certain
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. bound — tied together
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. vault — a safe
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. clip — for paper
  22. vault — in gymnastics
  23. craft — a skill
  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