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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: tear · coach · deal · capital · temple · fork

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  4. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  5. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  8. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  9. Have you met the new head ________________?
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  14. When was this ________________ built?
  15. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. capital — money
  3. deal — an agreement
  4. temple — a place of worship
  5. fork — a garden tool
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. coach — pulled by horses
  8. deal — a big deal
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. tear — from crying
  11. temple — side of the head
  12. tear — from crying
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. temple — a place of worship
  15. fork — to eat with
  16. tear — to rip
  17. deal — to handle
  18. fork — in a road

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