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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: board · shower · clip · lash · capital · ball · game · field

  1. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  2. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  7. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. The King held a masked ________________.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a committee
  2. lash — a whip stroke
  3. field — for sport
  4. shower — rain
  5. capital — a city
  6. lash — an eyelash
  7. lash — to lash out
  8. field — farmland
  9. game — a match
  10. board — to get on
  11. game — wild animals
  12. board — a flat piece
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. ball — a great time
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. shower — to wash
  17. ball — a dance
  18. field — a subject
  19. clip — to cut
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. clip — for paper
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. clip — a video
  24. capital — money

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