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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: bound · rule · land · suit · craft · hand · chair · chest

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  7. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. When will it ________________ you to start?
  10. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  13. That was ________________ to happen.
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  24. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. chest — of your body
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. craft — a handicraft
  5. chest — of your body
  6. rule — a law
  7. suit — clothes
  8. land — a country
  9. suit — to fit
  10. rule — to rule out
  11. land — ground
  12. bound — obliged
  13. bound — certain
  14. chair — a leader
  15. land — to come down
  16. bound — tied together
  17. chest — a box
  18. craft — a skill
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. suit — in cards
  21. hand — in cards
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. rule — government
  24. craft — boats

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