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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. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  4. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  9. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  21. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  22. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. bowl — a dish
  4. board — a committee
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. pit — in a race
  7. game — a match
  8. board — a flat piece
  9. board — to get on
  10. clip — for paper
  11. cold — an illness
  12. clip — a video
  13. prune — to trim
  14. race — the arms race
  15. pit — a hole
  16. game — wild animals
  17. cold — not warm
  18. race — a contest
  19. clip — to cut
  20. bowl — a football final
  21. prune — to trim
  22. pit — a fruit stone
  23. race — humankind
  24. cold — the Cold War

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