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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: cold · roll · staff · bat · board · swing · fan · land

  1. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. We're on a ________________ here.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  9. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  12. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  13. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  14. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  15. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  16. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Can you turn the ________________ on?

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

Answer key

  1. board — a flat piece
  2. land — ground
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. roll — on a roll
  5. cold — an illness
  6. staff — a stick
  7. land — to come down
  8. roll — a cake
  9. roll — a list
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. board — to get on
  13. board — a committee
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. staff — employees
  16. staff — employees
  17. swing — in golf
  18. swing — to play on
  19. cold — not warm
  20. swing — music
  21. bat — the animal
  22. land — a country
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. fan — to cool the air

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