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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: land · row · court · kid · firm · capital · mug · pound

  1. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  4. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. Where did you ________________ them?
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  21. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. firm — decided
  2. court — of law
  3. firm — a company
  4. mug — a face
  5. capital — a city
  6. row — a quarrel
  7. capital — money
  8. land — ground
  9. pound — to hit hard
  10. kid — to tease
  11. court — for sport
  12. mug — to rob
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. row — a line
  15. row — to paddle
  16. firm — steady
  17. kid — child
  18. pound — for dogs
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. mug — a cup
  21. pound — a weight
  22. court — of a king
  23. land — to come down
  24. land — a country

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