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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. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  2. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  13. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. Have you met the new head ________________?
  21. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  22. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a flat piece
  2. staff — a stick
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. band — a music group
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. kid — child
  9. band — a ring
  10. staff — employees
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. board — a committee
  13. chair — a leader
  14. clip — a video
  15. clip — to cut
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. board — to get on
  18. clip — for paper
  19. kid — to tease
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. staff — employees
  23. row — a line
  24. row — to paddle

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