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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 120 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. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  17. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. board — to get on
  2. tear — to rip
  3. hand — in cards
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. club — for golf
  6. club — a group
  7. bat — the animal
  8. degree — temperature
  9. board — a flat piece
  10. wind — moving air
  11. hand — help
  12. degree — an amount
  13. drill — the tool
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. club — for dancing
  17. board — a committee
  18. tear — from crying
  19. tear — from crying
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. drill — army training
  22. wind — moving air
  23. drill — a practice
  24. degree — from a university

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