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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 · clip · wound · game · roll · chair · row · temple

  1. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. When was this ________________ built?
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  10. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  11. That was ________________ to happen.
  12. We're on a ________________ here.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  17. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  21. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. chair — a leader
  3. wound — an injury
  4. game — a match
  5. clip — for paper
  6. row — a line
  7. temple — a place of worship
  8. wound — an injury
  9. roll — a cake
  10. bound — obliged
  11. bound — certain
  12. roll — on a roll
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. temple — side of the head
  17. bound — tied together
  18. game — wild animals
  19. clip — a video
  20. roll — a list
  21. temple — a place of worship
  22. row — to paddle
  23. chair — a professorship
  24. clip — to cut

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