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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 beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  11. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  12. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. The King held a masked ________________.
  15. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  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. capital — a big letter
  2. club — for golf
  3. court — of law
  4. capital — money
  5. file — a document
  6. kid — child
  7. kid — to tease
  8. prune — to trim
  9. prune — to trim
  10. ball — a great time
  11. club — for dancing
  12. ball — a round shape
  13. court — of a king
  14. ball — a dance
  15. club — a group
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. file — a line of people
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. court — for sport
  20. bat — the animal
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. file — a tool
  23. capital — a city
  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