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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: cold · capital · rest · bark · pop · court · last · stand

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. I can't ________________ this cold.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  21. We're almost out of ________________.
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  24. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. stand — on your feet
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. capital — a city
  5. cold — an illness
  6. rest — a break
  7. last — finally
  8. court — for sport
  9. court — of law
  10. capital — money
  11. pop — music
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. stand — to bear
  15. court — of a king
  16. stand — for spectators
  17. last — to go on
  18. bark — to shout
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. rest — what's left
  21. pop — soda
  22. last — final
  23. rest — what's left
  24. pop — to visit

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