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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: wave · scale · court · cold · hand · sharp · capital · calf

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  24. He's quite ________________, isn't he?

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. calf — a young animal
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. wave — of the sea
  6. cold — not warm
  7. court — of a king
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. calf — of the leg
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. calf — a young animal
  13. cold — an illness
  14. wave — a sudden rise
  15. capital — a city
  16. hand — in cards
  17. scale — size or range
  18. capital — money
  19. court — of law
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. court — for sport
  22. wave — with your hand
  23. scale — in music
  24. sharp — clever

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