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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: ground · chip · board · race · bat · last · rule · track

  1. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  9. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  15. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  21. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a flat piece
  2. ground — crushed
  3. last — final
  4. board — a committee
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. track — to keep track
  7. last — finally
  8. board — to get on
  9. track — a path
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. track — a song
  12. ground — a position
  13. last — to go on
  14. chip — in a computer
  15. rule — a law
  16. rule — government
  17. race — humankind
  18. race — the arms race
  19. ground — the earth
  20. rule — to rule out
  21. chip — for betting
  22. race — a contest
  23. bat — the animal
  24. chip — to eat

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