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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. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  3. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  4. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  20. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. board — a committee
  3. leaves — to go away
  4. bowl — a dish
  5. scale — in music
  6. file — a tool
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. mine — for digging
  9. chest — of your body
  10. chest — a box
  11. chest — of your body
  12. leaves — lets stay
  13. hand — in cards
  14. board — to get on
  15. file — a document
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. bowl — a football final
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. leaves — of a tree
  20. board — a flat piece
  21. hand — help
  22. file — a line of people
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. scale — size or range

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