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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. The ________________ took off on time.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. Don't do anything ________________.
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  21. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. kid — child
  4. file — a line of people
  5. row — a line
  6. plane — in geometry
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. plane — an aircraft
  10. rash — a series
  11. plane — a tool
  12. file — a tool
  13. file — a document
  14. bark — to shout
  15. rash — hasty
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. board — a flat piece
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. board — a committee
  21. chair — a leader
  22. row — to paddle
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. board — to get on

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