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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. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. court — of a king
  3. ground — crushed
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. capital — money
  6. ground — the earth
  7. capital — a city
  8. calf — a young animal
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. court — for sport
  11. fork — in a road
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. cold — not warm
  14. calf — of the leg
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. wound — an injury
  17. swing — to play on
  18. calf — a young animal
  19. wound — an injury
  20. ground — a position
  21. cold — an illness
  22. swing — in golf
  23. fork — to eat with
  24. swing — music

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