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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 116 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  6. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  7. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  8. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  9. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. branch — a division
  4. field — a subject
  5. kick — with a leg
  6. kick — in football
  7. pass — to succeed
  8. leaves — to go away
  9. leaves — of a tree
  10. capital — a city
  11. field — farmland
  12. capital — money
  13. pass — to spend time
  14. cold — an illness
  15. pass — a permit
  16. court — of law
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. leaves — lets stay
  19. court — of a king
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. court — for sport
  23. branch — of a tree
  24. field — for sport

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