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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. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  3. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  4. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  5. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  15. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — to cool the air
  2. board — a flat piece
  3. craft — a handicraft
  4. board — to get on
  5. lash — a whip stroke
  6. chest — a box
  7. spring — of water
  8. lash — an eyelash
  9. chest — of your body
  10. craft — boats
  11. field — for sport
  12. craft — a skill
  13. clip — a video
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. board — a committee
  16. clip — to cut
  17. field — a subject
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. field — farmland
  20. clip — for paper
  21. lash — to lash out
  22. spring — the season
  23. spring — a coil
  24. chest — of your body

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