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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 put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. She's very handy with a ________________.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. He works in a ________________ mill.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  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. chair — to sit on
  2. board — a flat piece
  3. fall — the season
  4. saw — past of 'see'
  5. squash — to crush
  6. saw — the tool
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. prune — to trim
  9. board — to get on
  10. drill — army training
  11. chair — a leader
  12. drill — the tool
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. squash — the sport
  15. fall — to drop
  16. drill — a practice
  17. cold — not warm
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. prune — to trim
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. saw — the tool
  22. cold — an illness
  23. fall — to drop
  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