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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 girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  10. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. board — a flat piece
  3. court — for sport
  4. chest — of your body
  5. craft — boats
  6. tear — from crying
  7. craft — a skill
  8. spring — a coil
  9. chip — in a computer
  10. chip — to eat
  11. court — of a king
  12. chip — for betting
  13. spring — the season
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. board — a committee
  16. spring — of water
  17. court — of law
  18. chest — a box
  19. tear — from crying
  20. chest — of your body
  21. row — to paddle
  22. craft — a handicraft
  23. tear — to rip
  24. board — to get on

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