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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. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  8. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  9. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  10. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  11. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. Did you ________________ the meat?
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  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. kick — in football
  2. court — of law
  3. season — in sport
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. stem — to come from
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. perch — the fish
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. season — of the year
  11. kick — a thrill
  12. shower — to wash
  13. court — of a king
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. court — for sport
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. season — to add flavour
  20. shower — rain
  21. kick — with a leg
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  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