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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. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  12. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  22. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. board — a committee
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. clip — for paper
  5. prune — to trim
  6. clip — a video
  7. spring — the season
  8. board — a flat piece
  9. prune — to trim
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. object — to protest
  12. board — to get on
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. chair — a leader
  15. land — to come down
  16. object — an aim
  17. clip — to cut
  18. land — ground
  19. object — a thing
  20. land — a country
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. date — the fruit
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. spring — a coil

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