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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: board · chest · land · race · wind · staff · can · content

  1. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  2. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  3. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  12. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. can — a tin
  2. board — a committee
  3. race — a contest
  4. content — happy
  5. race — the arms race
  6. content — the amount
  7. staff — employees
  8. wind — moving air
  9. can — a tin
  10. land — a country
  11. staff — a stick
  12. board — to get on
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. land — ground
  15. land — to come down
  16. wind — moving air
  17. staff — employees
  18. race — humankind
  19. chest — of your body
  20. can — to be able to
  21. chest — of your body
  22. board — a flat piece
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. chest — a box

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