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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. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  8. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  9. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a flat piece
  2. mine — for digging
  3. board — to get on
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. file — a document
  6. file — a tool
  7. racket — a loud noise
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. present — there
  10. wound — an injury
  11. tear — to rip
  12. present — a gift
  13. wound — an injury
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. file — a line of people
  16. tear — from crying
  17. board — a committee
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. capital — a city
  21. capital — money
  22. present — the time now
  23. tear — from crying
  24. racket — for tennis

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