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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. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  2. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  24. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a committee
  2. bowl — to roll
  3. game — a match
  4. board — to get on
  5. cold — not warm
  6. drill — a practice
  7. bat — the animal
  8. bowl — a football final
  9. drill — army training
  10. board — a flat piece
  11. game — wild animals
  12. drill — the tool
  13. branch — a division
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. lean — to rest against
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. lean — thin
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. cold — an illness
  23. lean — to bend
  24. bowl — a dish

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