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

Word bank: rule · vault · chair · spring · kid · net

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  5. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  6. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  7. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. spring — a coil
  3. kid — to tease
  4. vault — a safe
  5. rule — to rule out
  6. vault — in gymnastics
  7. vault — an arched ceiling
  8. net — after costs
  9. rule — a law
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. kid — child
  13. spring — the season
  14. rule — government
  15. net — for catching
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. spring — of water
  18. net — in sport

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