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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: vault · kick · court · capital · tear · pop

  1. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  5. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  6. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  14. We're almost out of ________________.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. pop — to visit
  3. court — for sport
  4. kick — with a leg
  5. kick — in football
  6. vault — in gymnastics
  7. pop — music
  8. capital — a city
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. tear — from crying
  11. tear — to rip
  12. court — of a king
  13. vault — an arched ceiling
  14. pop — soda
  15. capital — money
  16. court — of law
  17. vault — a safe
  18. capital — a big letter

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