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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: staff · file · chair · degree · bound · chest · trunk · straw

  1. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. That was ________________ to happen.
  9. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  12. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — a stick
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. staff — employees
  5. chair — a leader
  6. bound — tied together
  7. file — a line of people
  8. bound — certain
  9. bound — obliged
  10. chest — of your body
  11. trunk — of a tree
  12. staff — employees
  13. degree — an amount
  14. chest — of your body
  15. file — a document
  16. chest — a box
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. file — a tool
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. trunk — of an elephant
  22. degree — temperature
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. degree — from a university

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