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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: band · capital · game · march · stand · court · pitcher · chair

  1. That was a fun ________________.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. I can't ________________ this cold.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. stand — for spectators
  5. capital — money
  6. game — wild animals
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. march — the month
  9. court — for sport
  10. band — a music group
  11. stand — to bear
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. band — a ring
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. court — of law
  17. march — music
  18. chair — a leader
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. capital — a city
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. march — the month
  23. court — of a king
  24. stand — on your feet

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