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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: clip · chest · bat · chair · race · cue · band · ruler

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  8. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. cue — a signal
  3. band — a music group
  4. ruler — a monarch
  5. race — a contest
  6. race — the arms race
  7. cue — a hint
  8. ruler — for measuring
  9. clip — to cut
  10. clip — for paper
  11. cue — for pool
  12. chest — of your body
  13. band — a ring
  14. chair — a leader
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. chest — a box
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. race — humankind
  20. bat — the animal
  21. chest — of your body
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. ruler — for measuring
  24. clip — a video

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