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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. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. Have you found your soul ________________?
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  16. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. court — of a king
  3. capital — a city
  4. trunk — of a car
  5. chair — a leader
  6. mate — a partner
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. face — to point toward
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. mate — to breed
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. court — of law
  13. face — to confront
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. trunk — of an elephant
  16. mate — a friend
  17. mine — for digging
  18. court — for sport
  19. fork — a garden tool
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. fork — in a road
  23. capital — money
  24. face — part of the head

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