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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: kid · spring · chip · chair · vault · degree

  1. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  15. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. degree — an amount
  3. vault — a safe
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. vault — in gymnastics
  6. kid — to tease
  7. kid — child
  8. chip — to eat
  9. spring — of water
  10. degree — from a university
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. chair — a leader
  13. spring — a coil
  14. chip — in a computer
  15. vault — an arched ceiling
  16. spring — the season
  17. degree — temperature
  18. chip — for betting

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