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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 120 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. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  12. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. The King held a masked ________________.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. That was ________________ to happen.
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — clever
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. bound — tied together
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. bound — obliged
  6. court — for sport
  7. wound — an injury
  8. capital — money
  9. court — of law
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. ball — a great time
  12. branch — a division
  13. capital — a city
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. ball — a dance
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. wound — an injury
  18. bound — certain
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. spring — of water
  22. spring — a coil
  23. spring — the season
  24. court — of a king

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