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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: net · board · pit · cold · row · tear · swing · trunk

  1. David sat on the ________________.
  2. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  11. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  15. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. board — to get on
  3. net — for catching
  4. swing — in golf
  5. swing — music
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. board — a flat piece
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. tear — from crying
  10. pit — a hole
  11. board — a committee
  12. net — after costs
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. trunk — of an elephant
  15. pit — a fruit stone
  16. cold — an illness
  17. row — to paddle
  18. row — a line
  19. pit — in a race
  20. tear — from crying
  21. tear — to rip
  22. net — in sport
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. 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