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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. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  7. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  8. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  9. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  12. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wave — with your hand
  2. cold — not warm
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. land — ground
  5. chair — a leader
  6. board — a flat piece
  7. board — a committee
  8. object — to protest
  9. board — to get on
  10. land — to come down
  11. wave — a sudden rise
  12. object — a thing
  13. land — a country
  14. file — a document
  15. cold — an illness
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. court — of law
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. object — an aim
  20. court — of a king
  21. file — a line of people
  22. court — for sport
  23. file — a tool
  24. wave — of the sea

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