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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. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  21. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  22. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — in a computer
  2. spring — of water
  3. board — a flat piece
  4. row — a line
  5. row — to paddle
  6. cold — not warm
  7. cold — an illness
  8. spring — the season
  9. spring — a coil
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. field — a subject
  12. scale — in music
  13. net — for catching
  14. board — to get on
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. net — after costs
  17. field — for sport
  18. scale — size or range
  19. field — farmland
  20. chip — for betting
  21. board — a committee
  22. chip — to eat
  23. net — in sport
  24. row — a quarrel

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