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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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Word bank
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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: bound · patient · chair · bat · rule · capital

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  7. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  13. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  14. That was ________________ to happen.
  15. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. capital — a city
  3. chair — a leader
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. rule — a law
  7. bound — obliged
  8. bat — the animal
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. rule — to rule out
  14. bound — certain
  15. bound — tied together
  16. capital — money
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. rule — government

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