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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 ball is in your ________________.
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. Have you met the new head ________________?
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. staff — employees
  3. capital — a city
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. shower — to wash
  8. shower — rain
  9. branch — a division
  10. coach — pulled by horses
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. drill — army training
  14. drill — the tool
  15. drill — a practice
  16. capital — money
  17. staff — employees
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. court — of a king
  20. court — of law
  21. kid — child
  22. kid — to tease
  23. staff — a stick
  24. branch — of a tree

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