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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: pound · stick · court · capital · wake · squash · wound · lean

  1. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  5. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  6. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  9. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  11. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  12. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  20. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. capital — a city
  3. court — for sport
  4. squash — the vegetable
  5. wake — a trail
  6. stick — a piece of wood
  7. court — of law
  8. pound — a weight
  9. squash — the sport
  10. lean — to rest against
  11. lean — to bend
  12. pound — to hit hard
  13. wound — an injury
  14. wound — an injury
  15. capital — money
  16. stick — to attach or keep to
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. squash — to crush
  20. stick — a piece of wood
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. court — of a king
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. pound — for dogs

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