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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 120 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: bat · spring · saw · capital · cabinet · court · fan · pop

  1. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. He works in a ________________ mill.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. We're almost out of ________________.
  17. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  18. What do you think of the new ________________?
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  23. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  24. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. spring — the season
  4. spring — a coil
  5. capital — a city
  6. pop — music
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. court — of a king
  9. saw — the tool
  10. court — of law
  11. pop — to visit
  12. bat — the animal
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. spring — of water
  16. pop — soda
  17. fan — to cool the air
  18. cabinet — ministers
  19. capital — money
  20. court — for sport
  21. saw — the tool
  22. saw — past of 'see'
  23. fan — a supporter
  24. cabinet — a cupboard

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