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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 116 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. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  3. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a committee
  2. board — a flat piece
  3. fork — in a road
  4. net — after costs
  5. fork — to eat with
  6. bat — the animal
  7. court — for sport
  8. chair — a leader
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. present — there
  11. court — of a king
  12. net — for catching
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. spring — a coil
  15. spring — of water
  16. board — to get on
  17. spring — the season
  18. net — in sport
  19. present — the time now
  20. chair — a professorship
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. court — of law
  23. present — a gift
  24. bat — in an idiom

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