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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 ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  15. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  16. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  17. Have you met the new head ________________?
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. bowl — to roll
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. bat — the animal
  7. bass — low music
  8. clip — for paper
  9. bass — the fish
  10. clip — to cut
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. capital — money
  13. court — for sport
  14. bowl — a football final
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. bowl — a dish
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. bass — the instrument
  20. content — happy
  21. clip — a video
  22. content — the amount
  23. court — of law
  24. court — of a king

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