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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. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. bank — for money
  3. hand — in cards
  4. field — a subject
  5. staff — a stick
  6. capital — money
  7. capital — a city
  8. field — for sport
  9. bank — of a river
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. last — to go on
  12. shower — rain
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. bank — for money
  15. field — farmland
  16. shower — to wash
  17. last — final
  18. hand — help
  19. court — of a king
  20. staff — employees
  21. court — for sport
  22. last — finally
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. staff — employees

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