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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. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  5. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  13. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. She's very handy with a ________________.
  16. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  17. He works in a ________________ mill.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. That was ________________ to happen.
  20. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  21. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  22. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. game — wild animals
  3. last — final
  4. board — a flat piece
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. last — to go on
  7. game — a match
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. cold — not warm
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. drill — army training
  12. board — a committee
  13. drill — the tool
  14. cold — an illness
  15. saw — the tool
  16. hide — animal skin
  17. saw — the tool
  18. drill — a practice
  19. bound — certain
  20. bound — tied together
  21. board — to get on
  22. bound — obliged
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  24. game — a kind of play

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