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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: land · game · fork · capital · roll · board · field · scale

  1. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  2. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  3. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. We're on a ________________ here.
  16. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  21. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a committee
  2. scale — for weighing
  3. roll — a list
  4. land — to come down
  5. roll — a cake
  6. game — a match
  7. capital — money
  8. land — a country
  9. fork — to eat with
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. capital — a city
  12. field — farmland
  13. land — ground
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. roll — on a roll
  16. board — to get on
  17. fork — in a road
  18. game — wild animals
  19. field — a subject
  20. scale — size or range
  21. board — a flat piece
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. field — for sport
  24. scale — in music

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