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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. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  4. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  23. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  24. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — to tire
  2. chest — of your body
  3. row — to paddle
  4. board — a flat piece
  5. prune — to trim
  6. bore — to drill
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. board — to get on
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. bore — gave birth
  11. game — a match
  12. wax — to grow
  13. cold — an illness
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. row — a line
  16. chest — a box
  17. chest — of your body
  18. prune — to trim
  19. game — wild animals
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. cold — not warm
  22. wax — in the ear
  23. wax — for sculpting
  24. board — a committee

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