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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. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  10. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  17. We're on a ________________ here.
  18. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  22. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  23. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a committee
  2. roll — a cake
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. net — after costs
  5. clip — a video
  6. vault — a safe
  7. clip — for paper
  8. net — for catching
  9. board — a flat piece
  10. roll — a list
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. spring — the season
  13. bat — the animal
  14. spring — a coil
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. board — to get on
  17. roll — on a roll
  18. vault — in gymnastics
  19. net — in sport
  20. spring — of water
  21. stem — a stem cell
  22. vault — an arched ceiling
  23. stem — to come from
  24. clip — to cut

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