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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. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  8. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  9. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  10. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  15. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. My mare is ________________ in color.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a committee
  2. kid — to tease
  3. snap — to click
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. board — a flat piece
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. rest — a break
  8. board — to get on
  9. bay — a part of the sea
  10. rest — what's left
  11. bark — to shout
  12. land — a country
  13. kid — child
  14. snap — to speak sharply
  15. bay — to keep at bay
  16. land — to come down
  17. land — ground
  18. bay — a horse colour
  19. cold — an illness
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. cold — not warm
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. rest — what's left

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