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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: land · game · charge · row · board · chest · clip · track

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. The tickets are free of ________________.
  8. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  9. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  20. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. charge — in control
  3. land — ground
  4. land — to come down
  5. charge — electricity
  6. row — a line
  7. charge — a price
  8. track — a path
  9. track — to keep track
  10. land — a country
  11. game — a match
  12. chest — a box
  13. track — a song
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. clip — for paper
  16. clip — a video
  17. board — a committee
  18. clip — to cut
  19. board — a flat piece
  20. board — to get on
  21. row — to paddle
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. game — wild animals
  24. chest — of your body

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