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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'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  2. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. We're almost out of ________________.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. You don't need to ________________ round.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  23. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  24. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a committee
  2. file — a line of people
  3. court — of law
  4. rule — government
  5. bat — the animal
  6. pop — soda
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. pop — to visit
  9. court — for sport
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. court — of a king
  12. file — a document
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. rule — a law
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. board — to get on
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. rule — to rule out
  20. file — a tool
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. pop — music
  23. board — a flat piece
  24. chair — a leader

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