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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: board · stick · wind · cap · cold · tear

  1. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. board — to get on
  2. cap — a hat
  3. board — a flat piece
  4. tear — from crying
  5. stick — a piece of wood
  6. cap — a lid
  7. stick — to attach or keep to
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. stick — a piece of wood
  10. wind — moving air
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. cap — of ice
  13. board — a committee
  14. cold — an illness
  15. tear — from crying
  16. wind — moving air
  17. tear — to rip
  18. cold — not warm

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