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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. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. He is an ace ________________.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. That was ________________ to happen.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. court — of a king
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. court — of law
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. bound — tied together
  9. kid — to tease
  10. bound — obliged
  11. capital — money
  12. pitcher — in baseball
  13. tube — a container
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. capital — a city
  16. bound — certain
  17. tube — the underground
  18. kid — child

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