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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. My father caught me by the ________________.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  9. Have you settled on a ________________?
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  13. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  14. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  21. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  24. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. last — final
  4. drill — army training
  5. court — of law
  6. drill — the tool
  7. court — for sport
  8. squash — the vegetable
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. last — to go on
  11. court — of a king
  12. arm — a part of something
  13. calf — a young animal
  14. arm — part of the body
  15. squash — to crush
  16. capital — money
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. drill — a practice
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. calf — of the leg
  21. squash — the sport
  22. last — finally
  23. date — the fruit
  24. calf — a young animal

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