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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. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  3. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  24. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. board — a committee
  3. present — a gift
  4. land — ground
  5. cold — not warm
  6. land — a country
  7. shower — rain
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. cell — in biology
  10. bark — to shout
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. board — to get on
  13. land — to come down
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. cell — a phone
  17. shower — to wash
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. race — the arms race
  20. race — humankind
  21. cold — an illness
  22. present — the time now
  23. board — a flat piece
  24. present — there

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