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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. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  12. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  17. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  18. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  23. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. wound — an injury
  3. capital — money
  4. ground — a position
  5. capital — a city
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. wound — an injury
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. cue — a signal
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. calf — a young animal
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. court — of a king
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. court — of law
  16. cue — a hint
  17. cue — for pool
  18. fan — to cool the air
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. ground — crushed
  22. calf — a young animal
  23. calf — of the leg
  24. ground — the earth

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