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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
468
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: shower · content · court · land · fork · coach · spell · cap

  1. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  15. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  16. Have you met the new head ________________?
  17. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a lid
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. court — for sport
  4. spell — letters
  5. cap — a hat
  6. land — ground
  7. shower — to wash
  8. shower — rain
  9. spell — magic
  10. content — the amount
  11. court — of a king
  12. spell — a short time
  13. fork — in a road
  14. cap — of ice
  15. coach — pulled by horses
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. court — of law
  19. land — a country
  20. fork — to eat with
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. content — happy
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. land — to come down

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