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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. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  9. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  10. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. Don't do anything ________________.
  15. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  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. mark — to pay attention
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. field — a subject
  4. calf — a young animal
  5. field — farmland
  6. clip — to cut
  7. court — of law
  8. mark — a grade
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. branch — of a tree
  11. clip — for paper
  12. calf — of the leg
  13. branch — a division
  14. rash — hasty
  15. mark — a trace
  16. court — for sport
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. stock — shares
  19. rash — a series
  20. clip — a video
  21. court — of a king
  22. branch — of a bank
  23. stock — goods
  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