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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. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  10. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. This piece is in a major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a committee
  2. hand — help
  3. row — to paddle
  4. ground — a position
  5. key — for a lock
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. stock — goods
  8. wind — moving air
  9. board — to get on
  10. key — the most important part
  11. ground — the earth
  12. march — the month
  13. march — music
  14. ground — crushed
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. hand — in cards
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. board — a flat piece
  19. wind — moving air
  20. march — the month
  21. stock — a soup base
  22. stock — shares
  23. row — a line
  24. key — in music

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