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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. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  8. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  21. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a committee
  2. last — finally
  3. pit — a hole
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. cold — not warm
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. pass — to spend time
  8. pit — in a race
  9. last — final
  10. pit — a fruit stone
  11. file — a document
  12. fall — to drop
  13. game — a match
  14. fall — the season
  15. last — to go on
  16. game — wild animals
  17. file — a tool
  18. board — to get on
  19. fall — to drop
  20. pass — to succeed
  21. board — a flat piece
  22. cold — an illness
  23. pass — a permit
  24. file — a line of people

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