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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  16. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  17. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  22. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. The people resisted their cruel ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a flat piece
  2. shower — to wash
  3. tear — to rip
  4. pit — a fruit stone
  5. field — a subject
  6. tear — from crying
  7. field — farmland
  8. shower — rain
  9. ruler — for measuring
  10. court — for sport
  11. court — of law
  12. tear — from crying
  13. court — of a king
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. pit — a hole
  16. pit — in a race
  17. ruler — for measuring
  18. field — for sport
  19. march — the month
  20. march — the month
  21. board — to get on
  22. board — a committee
  23. march — music
  24. ruler — a monarch

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