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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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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: tube · court · calf · deal · fork · capital · prune · cold

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  15. I'll be taking the ________________.
  16. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. deal — to handle
  3. tube — a container
  4. prune — to trim
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. prune — to trim
  7. deal — an agreement
  8. cold — not warm
  9. fork — in a road
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. cold — an illness
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. calf — of the leg
  15. tube — the underground
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. court — of law
  18. capital — money
  19. calf — a young animal
  20. court — of a king
  21. capital — a city
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. deal — a big deal
  24. cold — the Cold War

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