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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  7. Have you settled on a ________________?
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. The ________________ went through the wall.
  16. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  19. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  20. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  21. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  22. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  23. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  24. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a flat piece
  2. cold — an illness
  3. capital — a city
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. board — a committee
  10. capital — money
  11. kick — a thrill
  12. game — wild animals
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. game — a match
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. nail — on a finger
  17. cold — not warm
  18. date — the fruit
  19. jam — to spread on bread
  20. kick — in football
  21. jam — a tight spot
  22. kick — with a leg
  23. board — to get on
  24. jam — in traffic

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