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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 116 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. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  7. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a committee
  2. field — a subject
  3. wound — an injury
  4. kid — to tease
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. board — to get on
  7. bank — of a river
  8. field — for sport
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. board — a flat piece
  11. wake — a trail
  12. field — farmland
  13. wound — an injury
  14. kid — child
  15. bank — for money
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. bank — for 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