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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  5. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. cap — a hat
  3. rash — hasty
  4. board — a flat piece
  5. rash — a series
  6. clip — to cut
  7. clip — a video
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. row — a line
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. board — a committee
  12. cap — of ice
  13. cap — a lid
  14. net — after costs
  15. board — to get on
  16. net — in sport
  17. net — for catching
  18. row — to paddle

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