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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 · patient · chair · bat · rule · capital · band · hand

  1. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. That was ________________ to happen.
  4. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  12. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  18. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  21. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — government
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. bound — certain
  4. rule — a law
  5. hand — help
  6. chair — a leader
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. bat — the animal
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. bound — tied together
  13. hand — in cards
  14. capital — a city
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. rule — to rule out
  18. chair — a professorship
  19. band — a ring
  20. patient — calm and waiting
  21. bound — obliged
  22. band — a music group
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. capital — money

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