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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. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  2. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  3. My father caught me by the ________________.
  4. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  13. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. Have you met the new head ________________?
  16. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  17. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  18. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  19. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  20. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  21. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a committee
  2. deal — a big deal
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. board — to get on
  5. degree — an amount
  6. clip — a video
  7. arm — a part of something
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. clip — for paper
  10. degree — temperature
  11. degree — from a university
  12. coach — pulled by horses
  13. craft — a skill
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. craft — a handicraft
  17. deal — to handle
  18. craft — boats
  19. board — a flat piece
  20. deal — an agreement
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. clip — to cut
  23. cold — not warm
  24. cold — an illness

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