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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: chest · chair · fine · stock · face · hand · mine · bound

  1. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  4. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. That was ________________ to happen.
  21. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. face — to confront
  3. fine — all right
  4. fine — a penalty
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. stock — goods
  7. bound — obliged
  8. chest — a box
  9. chest — of your body
  10. mine — for digging
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. chair — a leader
  13. fine — high quality
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. face — to point toward
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. hand — help
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. bound — certain
  21. bound — tied together
  22. face — part of the head
  23. chest — of your body
  24. hand — in cards

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