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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. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  6. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  9. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  18. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  21. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  22. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  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. firm — steady
  2. cold — not warm
  3. file — a tool
  4. mine — for digging
  5. firm — a company
  6. kick — with a leg
  7. cold — an illness
  8. firm — decided
  9. fan — to cool the air
  10. court — of a king
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. file — a line of people
  13. file — a document
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. board — a flat piece
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. court — for sport
  20. kick — in football
  21. board — to get on
  22. kick — a thrill
  23. court — of law
  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