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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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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 ball is in your ________________.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. Don't do anything ________________.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. It's one o'clock ________________.
  14. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  15. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  22. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. court — of a king
  3. field — farmland
  4. rash — hasty
  5. branch — a division
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. calf — a young animal
  8. cold — not warm
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. bank — for money
  11. field — for sport
  12. sharp — clever
  13. sharp — exactly
  14. calf — a young animal
  15. rash — on the skin
  16. field — a subject
  17. calf — of the leg
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. court — of law
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. bank — for money
  22. bank — of a river
  23. rash — a series
  24. cold — an illness

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