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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  11. That was ________________ to happen.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  18. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  19. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  23. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  24. We are ________________ to obey laws.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a committee
  2. capital — a city
  3. cold — an illness
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. stick — a piece of wood
  6. chest — of your body
  7. deal — an agreement
  8. cold — not warm
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. stick — to attach or keep to
  11. bound — certain
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. stick — a piece of wood
  16. chest — a box
  17. board — to get on
  18. board — a flat piece
  19. bound — tied together
  20. capital — money
  21. chest — of your body
  22. deal — to handle
  23. deal — a big deal
  24. bound — obliged

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