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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 farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  6. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  9. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  16. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  23. Did you ________________ the button?
  24. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. perch — the fish
  3. court — of a king
  4. court — for sport
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. press — newspapers
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. cold — an illness
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. stock — goods
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. court — of law
  15. press — a publisher
  16. calf — of the leg
  17. stock — shares
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. calf — a young animal
  20. cold — not warm
  21. branch — a division
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. press — to push
  24. patient — a sick person

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