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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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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: bear · hand · board · wind · land · pitch · sharp · row

  1. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  2. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  12. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  15. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  16. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  17. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — to put up with
  2. board — a flat piece
  3. land — to come down
  4. hand — help
  5. sharp — clever
  6. pitch — completely
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. wind — moving air
  10. row — to paddle
  11. pitch — a sales talk
  12. board — a committee
  13. row — a line
  14. pitch — a sports field
  15. bear — the animal
  16. bear — the animal
  17. board — to get on
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. land — a country
  20. land — ground
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. wind — moving air
  24. hand — in cards

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