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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 120 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: band · vault · chair · tear · clip · chest

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  14. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. chest — of your body
  3. tear — from crying
  4. chest — a box
  5. clip — to cut
  6. clip — a video
  7. chest — of your body
  8. band — a music group
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. band — a ring
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. vault — an arched ceiling
  14. vault — a safe
  15. clip — for paper
  16. tear — to rip
  17. vault — in gymnastics
  18. tear — from crying

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