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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. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. board — to get on
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. board — a committee
  4. spring — a coil
  5. cell — a phone
  6. race — the arms race
  7. capital — money
  8. file — a tool
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. capital — a city
  12. race — a contest
  13. race — humankind
  14. spring — of water
  15. band — a ring
  16. cell — in biology
  17. band — a music group
  18. kick — with a leg
  19. spring — the season
  20. board — a flat piece
  21. file — a document
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. file — a line of people
  24. kick — in football

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