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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: chip · pitcher · leaves · land · clip · court · board · cold

  1. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  2. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  5. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  6. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  21. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a committee
  2. leaves — to go away
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. board — a flat piece
  5. chip — in a computer
  6. chip — for betting
  7. court — for sport
  8. court — of a king
  9. leaves — lets stay
  10. land — to come down
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. clip — a video
  14. cold — an illness
  15. clip — for paper
  16. land — a country
  17. chip — to eat
  18. clip — to cut
  19. cold — not warm
  20. board — to get on
  21. leaves — of a tree
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. court — of law
  24. land — ground

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