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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: mark · cell · court · race · capital · row

  1. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. mark — to pay attention
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. race — the arms race
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. cell — in biology
  8. court — of a king
  9. mark — a grade
  10. court — for sport
  11. cell — a phone
  12. race — a contest
  13. mark — a trace
  14. row — a line
  15. row — to paddle
  16. capital — a city
  17. capital — money
  18. race — humankind

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