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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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Word bank
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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: tear · clip · row · wake · board · leaves · game · kid

  1. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  24. ________________ games are popular in Germany.

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

Answer key

  1. board — to get on
  2. game — wild animals
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. wake — a trail
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. row — a line
  7. clip — to cut
  8. leaves — to go away
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. leaves — of a tree
  11. tear — to rip
  12. clip — a video
  13. kid — to tease
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. tear — from crying
  16. tear — from crying
  17. clip — for paper
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. game — a match
  20. board — a committee
  21. kid — child
  22. row — to paddle
  23. leaves — lets stay
  24. board — a flat piece

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