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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: chip · mine · bat · bound · vault · staff · spring · chest

  1. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  6. That was ________________ to happen.
  7. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  16. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  17. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  22. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. There's a computer ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. staff — employees
  3. spring — a coil
  4. spring — the season
  5. bound — tied together
  6. bound — certain
  7. staff — a stick
  8. spring — of water
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. vault — a safe
  11. mine — for digging
  12. chest — a box
  13. vault — in gymnastics
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. staff — employees
  16. vault — an arched ceiling
  17. chip — for betting
  18. chest — of your body
  19. bat — the animal
  20. chest — of your body
  21. chip — to eat
  22. bound — obliged
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. chip — in a computer

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