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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: hand · cold · vault · chair · capital · temple · present · bound

  1. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  3. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  4. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. When was this ________________ built?
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. That was ________________ to happen.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  14. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  15. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  20. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. vault — in gymnastics
  3. temple — a place of worship
  4. present — there
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. bound — obliged
  7. cold — not warm
  8. hand — help
  9. temple — a place of worship
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. bound — certain
  12. cold — an illness
  13. temple — side of the head
  14. present — the time now
  15. vault — a safe
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. capital — money
  19. bound — tied together
  20. chair — a professorship
  21. hand — in cards
  22. chair — a leader
  23. capital — a city
  24. vault — an arched ceiling

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