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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. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  2. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  5. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  10. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. I can't ________________ this cold.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. Did you ________________ the button?
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  19. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  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. press — a publisher
  2. perch — the fish
  3. field — farmland
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. wake — to stop sleeping
  6. cold — not warm
  7. cold — an illness
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. stand — on your feet
  10. wake — a trail
  11. field — a subject
  12. stand — to bear
  13. court — of a king
  14. capital — a city
  15. court — of law
  16. press — to push
  17. capital — money
  18. press — newspapers
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. court — for sport
  21. stand — for spectators
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. wake — before a funeral
  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