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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 ball is in your ________________.
  2. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  7. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  21. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. pound — to hit hard
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. cap — of ice
  5. capital — money
  6. fall — the season
  7. cap — a hat
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. court — of a king
  12. capital — a city
  13. cap — a lid
  14. court — of law
  15. fall — to drop
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. scale — in music
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. cell — in biology
  20. pound — a weight
  21. pound — for dogs
  22. scale — size or range
  23. cell — a phone
  24. fall — to drop

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