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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. Did you ________________ the button?
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  8. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  18. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. court — of a king
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. capital — money
  5. press — to push
  6. cold — an illness
  7. pound — to hit hard
  8. pound — a weight
  9. stock — goods
  10. court — for sport
  11. stock — shares
  12. press — newspapers
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. bark — to shout
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. pound — for dogs
  18. press — a publisher
  19. cold — not warm
  20. cell — in biology
  21. capital — a city
  22. court — of law
  23. cell — a phone
  24. bark — of a tree

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