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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. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  2. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  6. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  15. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  16. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  17. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  18. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. We're on a ________________ here.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  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. roll — a cake
  3. chest — a box
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. board — to get on
  6. roll — a list
  7. row — a line
  8. face — to point toward
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. file — a tool
  11. wax — to grow
  12. chest — of your body
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. bank — for money
  15. board — a committee
  16. bank — for money
  17. face — to confront
  18. bank — of a river
  19. chest — of your body
  20. file — a line of people
  21. face — part of the head
  22. roll — on a roll
  23. file — a document
  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