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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. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  2. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  5. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  6. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  7. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  8. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. We're on a ________________ here.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. wave — a sudden rise
  2. board — a flat piece
  3. row — a line
  4. board — a committee
  5. roll — a cake
  6. wave — of the sea
  7. mark — a trace
  8. wave — with your hand
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. roll — a list
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. board — to get on
  14. bat — the animal
  15. cold — an illness
  16. mark — a grade
  17. row — to paddle
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. roll — on a roll
  21. cell — a phone
  22. cold — not warm
  23. mark — to pay attention
  24. cell — in biology

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