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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  8. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  9. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  23. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. kid — child
  3. cap — a lid
  4. court — of law
  5. fall — to drop
  6. kid — to tease
  7. dip — a sauce
  8. dip — to sink
  9. bore — to drill
  10. capital — a city
  11. fall — the season
  12. fall — to drop
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. capital — money
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. dip — to dunk
  17. bat — the animal
  18. cap — of ice
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. cap — a hat
  21. court — of a king
  22. bore — gave birth
  23. bore — to tire
  24. bat — in an idiom

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