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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 beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  14. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  15. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  18. Have you met the new head ________________?
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. coach — pulled by horses
  4. chest — a box
  5. chest — of your body
  6. kid — child
  7. capital — money
  8. court — for sport
  9. wind — moving air
  10. court — of law
  11. pass — to succeed
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. fork — a garden tool
  14. fork — to eat with
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. wind — moving air
  17. pass — a permit
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. fork — in a road
  20. kid — to tease
  21. court — of a king
  22. pass — to spend time
  23. chest — of your body
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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