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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: rule · tube · face · kick · board · cold · content · fork

  1. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  2. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  9. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  10. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  11. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  17. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  18. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — government
  2. board — a flat piece
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. board — to get on
  5. tube — the underground
  6. kick — with a leg
  7. face — to confront
  8. fork — in a road
  9. rule — a law
  10. rule — to rule out
  11. kick — a thrill
  12. cold — not warm
  13. content — the amount
  14. face — to point toward
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. tube — a container
  17. board — a committee
  18. kick — in football
  19. content — happy
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. cold — an illness
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. face — part of the head

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