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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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Word bank
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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: capital · court · hand · calf · mug · game · clip · tear

  1. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. Where did you ________________ them?
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  11. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  12. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. tear — from crying
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. mug — to rob
  5. court — of law
  6. game — a match
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. court — for sport
  9. tear — to rip
  10. calf — a young animal
  11. calf — a young animal
  12. mug — a face
  13. court — of a king
  14. capital — money
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. capital — a city
  17. clip — to cut
  18. mug — a cup
  19. tear — from crying
  20. game — wild animals
  21. hand — help
  22. calf — of the leg
  23. clip — for paper
  24. clip — a video

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