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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 120 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: shower · bound · kick · hand · board · capital · foot · row

  1. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  2. That was ________________ to happen.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  12. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  13. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  14. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  17. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a committee
  2. bound — certain
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. row — a line
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. shower — rain
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. board — a flat piece
  9. hand — help
  10. capital — money
  11. kick — a thrill
  12. kick — in football
  13. bound — obliged
  14. foot — part of the body
  15. shower — to wash
  16. foot — the bottom
  17. bound — tied together
  18. kick — with a leg
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. row — to paddle
  21. capital — a city
  22. foot — a measure
  23. hand — in cards
  24. board — to get on

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