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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: race · capital · file · court · fork · coach

  1. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. Have you met the new head ________________?
  10. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. race — humankind
  3. file — a document
  4. file — a tool
  5. capital — money
  6. coach — pulled by horses
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. court — for sport
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. race — a contest
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. race — the arms race
  14. capital — a city
  15. file — a line of people
  16. court — of a king
  17. fork — in a road
  18. fork — to eat with

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