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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. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. My mare is ________________ in color.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a committee
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. board — to get on
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. hand — in cards
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. cold — an illness
  9. sharp — clever
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. bay — to keep at bay
  13. game — a match
  14. cold — not warm
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. bay — a horse colour
  17. prune — to trim
  18. board — a flat piece
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. game — wild animals
  21. bay — a part of the sea
  22. hand — help
  23. prune — to trim
  24. bark — to shout

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