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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. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. Have you met the new head ________________?
  3. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  4. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  5. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  6. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  24. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. current — happening now
  4. board — a flat piece
  5. board — a committee
  6. current — of water
  7. cell — a phone
  8. cold — an illness
  9. bark — to shout
  10. file — a tool
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. field — for sport
  13. cold — not warm
  14. file — a line of people
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. cell — in biology
  17. file — a document
  18. board — to get on
  19. field — a subject
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. field — farmland
  23. current — electric
  24. coach — pulled by horses

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