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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: cold · game · spring · board · foot · perch · kid · chip

  1. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  2. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  8. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  9. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  12. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. ________________ games are popular in Germany.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a committee
  2. chip — to eat
  3. cold — not warm
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. kid — child
  6. spring — a coil
  7. foot — part of the body
  8. chip — in a computer
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. cold — an illness
  11. board — to get on
  12. foot — a measure
  13. spring — of water
  14. chip — for betting
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. foot — the bottom
  18. kid — to tease
  19. perch — the fish
  20. game — a match
  21. spring — the season
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. game — wild animals
  24. board — a flat piece

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