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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 cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  7. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  19. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  20. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  24. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. board — a flat piece
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. field — for sport
  6. pitch — a sales talk
  7. board — a committee
  8. cold — not warm
  9. row — a line
  10. field — a subject
  11. drill — the tool
  12. drill — a practice
  13. board — to get on
  14. row — to paddle
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. calf — of the leg
  17. pitch — completely
  18. drill — army training
  19. pitch — a sports field
  20. calf — a young animal
  21. field — farmland
  22. cold — an illness
  23. prune — to trim
  24. calf — a young animal

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