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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: current · lean · court · capital · can · field · cell · file

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  12. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  13. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  19. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. file — a tool
  3. capital — a city
  4. lean — to bend
  5. court — of law
  6. cell — a phone
  7. file — a line of people
  8. current — electric
  9. cell — in biology
  10. court — of a king
  11. lean — thin
  12. current — of water
  13. can — a tin
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. can — to be able to
  17. capital — money
  18. can — a tin
  19. current — happening now
  20. field — a subject
  21. file — a document
  22. field — for sport
  23. court — for sport
  24. lean — to rest against

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