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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  6. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  7. Have you settled on a ________________?
  8. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. I can't ________________ this cold.
  12. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  13. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  24. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. court — for sport
  3. stand — for spectators
  4. shower — to wash
  5. calf — a young animal
  6. calf — a young animal
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. land — to come down
  10. shower — rain
  11. stand — to bear
  12. calf — of the leg
  13. fork — to eat with
  14. court — of a king
  15. fork — in a road
  16. land — a country
  17. fork — a garden tool
  18. capital — a city
  19. capital — money
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. court — of law
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. stand — on your feet
  24. date — the fruit

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