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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. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  2. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  3. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  4. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  5. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  16. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  17. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  22. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a flat piece
  2. face — part of the head
  3. board — a committee
  4. squash — the sport
  5. board — to get on
  6. row — a line
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. cold — not warm
  9. face — to point toward
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. lash — to lash out
  12. face — to confront
  13. squash — to crush
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. lash — a whip stroke
  16. squash — the vegetable
  17. lash — an eyelash
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. snap — to click
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. cold — an illness
  24. row — to paddle

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