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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: chair · spring · cold · bound · row · snap · present · date

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  8. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. That was ________________ to happen.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. Have you settled on a ________________?
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  23. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  24. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. spring — a coil
  3. bound — obliged
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. present — the time now
  8. present — a gift
  9. spring — of water
  10. chair — a leader
  11. bound — certain
  12. snap — to click
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. row — to paddle
  16. cold — an illness
  17. spring — the season
  18. present — there
  19. row — a line
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. date — the fruit
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. bound — tied together

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