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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: bark · court · press · rule · stand · cold

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. I can't ________________ this cold.
  8. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  12. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  15. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. court — of law
  3. rule — a law
  4. press — to push
  5. court — of a king
  6. bark — to shout
  7. stand — to bear
  8. rule — government
  9. cold — an illness
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. stand — for spectators
  12. press — a publisher
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. stand — on your feet
  15. rule — to rule out
  16. court — for sport
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. press — newspapers

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