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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: chair · club · bound · last · kid · rule · staff · file

  1. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  5. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  6. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  10. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  15. That was ________________ to happen.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  23. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  24. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — obliged
  2. last — finally
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. staff — employees
  5. bound — tied together
  6. club — for golf
  7. last — final
  8. kid — to tease
  9. staff — employees
  10. club — for dancing
  11. last — to go on
  12. rule — to rule out
  13. file — a tool
  14. rule — government
  15. bound — certain
  16. kid — child
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. file — a line of people
  19. chair — a leader
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. file — a document
  22. rule — a law
  23. staff — a stick
  24. club — a group

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