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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: land · craft · straw · fork · capital · court · safe · clip

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  22. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. court — of law
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. safe — a strongbox
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. clip — a video
  9. clip — to cut
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. craft — a skill
  12. court — of a king
  13. land — a country
  14. capital — money
  15. safe — out of danger
  16. fork — in a road
  17. capital — a city
  18. craft — a handicraft
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. land — to come down
  21. craft — boats
  22. safe — out of danger
  23. clip — for paper
  24. court — for sport

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