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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 116 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. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. Where did you ________________ them?
  8. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  21. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  24. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. spring — the season
  3. file — a tool
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. hand — help
  6. spring — of water
  7. mug — to rob
  8. mug — a face
  9. spring — a coil
  10. court — of a king
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. hand — in cards
  14. mug — a cup
  15. capital — a city
  16. file — a document
  17. board — a committee
  18. capital — money
  19. file — a line of people
  20. board — a flat piece
  21. racket — for tennis
  22. court — for sport
  23. racket — a loud noise
  24. board — to get on

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