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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: chair · mouse · court · land · tear · club · capital · pop

  1. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  3. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  15. We're almost out of ________________.
  16. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. You don't need to ________________ round.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. mouse — the animal
  3. pop — music
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. court — of law
  7. club — for golf
  8. land — to come down
  9. chair — a leader
  10. club — for dancing
  11. capital — a city
  12. tear — from crying
  13. tear — from crying
  14. club — a group
  15. pop — soda
  16. mouse — for a computer
  17. land — a country
  18. mouse — the animal
  19. tear — to rip
  20. pop — to visit
  21. court — for sport
  22. capital — money
  23. land — ground
  24. court — of a king

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