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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: court · chair · capital · spring · cue · arm · hide · clip

  1. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  18. My father caught me by the ________________.
  19. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  23. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  24. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. spring — the season
  3. court — of law
  4. clip — for paper
  5. court — of a king
  6. clip — a video
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. chair — a leader
  9. spring — of water
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. cue — a hint
  13. court — for sport
  14. capital — a city
  15. hide — animal skin
  16. clip — to cut
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. arm — part of the body
  19. cue — for pool
  20. spring — a coil
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. cue — a signal
  23. arm — a part of something
  24. chair — a professorship

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