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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  5. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  9. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  21. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  22. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  23. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. rest — what's left
  3. court — of law
  4. ruler — for measuring
  5. ruler — for measuring
  6. game — wild animals
  7. game — a match
  8. board — a flat piece
  9. rest — a break
  10. court — for sport
  11. capital — money
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. chest — of your body
  14. clip — a video
  15. clip — to cut
  16. chest — a box
  17. chest — of your body
  18. court — of a king
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. ruler — a monarch
  21. rest — what's left
  22. board — to get on
  23. board — a committee
  24. clip — for paper

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