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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. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  2. That must've been a ________________.
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  13. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  20. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. rush — a thrill
  3. rush — hurry
  4. rush — to hurry
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. board — to get on
  7. cold — an illness
  8. fork — in a road
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. wound — an injury
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. board — a committee
  14. band — a music group
  15. band — a ring
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. chair — a leader
  19. board — a flat piece
  20. fork — a garden tool
  21. wound — an injury
  22. cold — not warm
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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