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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. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  5. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  18. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — boats
  2. court — of a king
  3. court — for sport
  4. current — happening now
  5. current — electric
  6. capital — a city
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. last — final
  9. last — finally
  10. last — to go on
  11. ground — crushed
  12. ground — a position
  13. face — part of the head
  14. court — of law
  15. current — of water
  16. face — to point toward
  17. craft — a skill
  18. craft — a handicraft
  19. ground — the earth
  20. game — wild animals
  21. game — a match
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. capital — money
  24. face — to confront

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