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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. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  2. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  3. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a flat piece
  2. board — to get on
  3. bowl — a dish
  4. file — a line of people
  5. bowl — a football final
  6. degree — an amount
  7. field — farmland
  8. wake — a trail
  9. last — to go on
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. file — a document
  12. file — a tool
  13. field — a subject
  14. bowl — to roll
  15. field — for sport
  16. tear — from crying
  17. last — final
  18. tear — to rip
  19. tear — from crying
  20. degree — temperature
  21. degree — from a university
  22. last — finally
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. board — a committee

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