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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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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: rock · court · pitcher · lie · capital · stand · spell · bark

  1. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  7. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  10. I can't ________________ this cold.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  21. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  22. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. We were using a ________________ as a seat.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. spell — magic
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. capital — a city
  6. lie — to recline
  7. rock — music
  8. spell — letters
  9. lie — an untruth
  10. stand — to bear
  11. court — of a king
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. court — for sport
  15. stand — for spectators
  16. bark — to shout
  17. spell — a short time
  18. capital — money
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. stand — on your feet
  21. rock — to move gently
  22. lie — an untruth
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. rock — a stone

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