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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. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  5. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a committee
  2. drill — a practice
  3. wax — to grow
  4. cap — of ice
  5. board — a flat piece
  6. cap — a lid
  7. tear — to rip
  8. wax — for sculpting
  9. tear — from crying
  10. tear — from crying
  11. file — a tool
  12. spring — a coil
  13. file — a line of people
  14. cap — a hat
  15. spring — the season
  16. game — a match
  17. wax — in the ear
  18. spring — of water
  19. drill — army training
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. game — wild animals
  22. board — to get on
  23. drill — the tool
  24. file — a document

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