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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 116 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. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  4. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. The ________________ market has crashed.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  20. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  21. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  24. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a flat piece
  2. shower — to wash
  3. vault — a safe
  4. squash — the sport
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. squash — the vegetable
  7. shower — rain
  8. cold — an illness
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. stock — goods
  12. stock — shares
  13. cold — not warm
  14. board — a committee
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. board — to get on
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. squash — to crush
  20. wax — to grow
  21. vault — an arched ceiling
  22. bark — to shout
  23. wax — in the ear
  24. vault — in gymnastics

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