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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 120 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. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  2. Have you met the new head ________________?
  3. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  12. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. cap — of ice
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. coach — pulled by horses
  6. court — of law
  7. court — of a king
  8. drill — the tool
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. drill — army training
  11. vault — an arched ceiling
  12. vault — in gymnastics
  13. wind — moving air
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. wind — moving air
  16. bat — the animal
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. court — for sport
  20. vault — a safe
  21. capital — money
  22. drill — a practice
  23. capital — a city
  24. cap — a lid

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