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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. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  5. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  6. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  10. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  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. row — a line
  2. mate — a partner
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. board — to get on
  5. can — a tin
  6. mate — to breed
  7. game — wild animals
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. can — to be able to
  10. mate — a friend
  11. clip — for paper
  12. clip — to cut
  13. kid — child
  14. can — a tin
  15. game — a match
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. board — a flat piece
  18. chest — of your body
  19. clip — a video
  20. row — to paddle
  21. kid — to tease
  22. chest — a box
  23. board — a committee
  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