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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  12. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  18. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. He is an ace ________________.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. fine — all right
  4. cold — an illness
  5. fine — a penalty
  6. capital — money
  7. court — for sport
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. pass — to spend time
  10. game — a match
  11. fan — to cool the air
  12. fine — high quality
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. game — wild animals
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. pass — a permit
  19. court — of a king
  20. cold — not warm
  21. court — of law
  22. pitcher — in baseball
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. pass — to succeed

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