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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: chair · cold · land · board · staff · date · ground · track

  1. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. Have you settled on a ________________?
  4. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  10. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  11. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  12. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  15. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  22. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  23. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a flat piece
  2. ground — crushed
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. track — to keep track
  5. land — to come down
  6. ground — a position
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. cold — an illness
  9. staff — a stick
  10. staff — employees
  11. date — the fruit
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. board — to get on
  15. staff — employees
  16. land — ground
  17. cold — not warm
  18. chair — a leader
  19. ground — the earth
  20. land — a country
  21. track — a song
  22. track — a path
  23. board — a committee
  24. cold — the Cold War

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