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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. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  10. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  15. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. The ________________ went through the wall.
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  24. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — on a finger
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. board — to get on
  4. chair — a leader
  5. land — to come down
  6. stock — goods
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. mate — a partner
  9. mate — a friend
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. cold — not warm
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. board — a committee
  15. board — a flat piece
  16. land — a country
  17. land — ground
  18. nail — for a hammer
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. snap — to click
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. cold — an illness
  23. stock — shares
  24. mate — to breed

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