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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: bat · rest · lash · hand · court · track · sharp · capital

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. It's one o'clock ________________.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  12. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  13. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  16. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. capital — money
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. sharp — exactly
  5. hand — in cards
  6. court — of a king
  7. lash — a whip stroke
  8. court — for sport
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. capital — a city
  11. rest — what's left
  12. lash — an eyelash
  13. rest — what's left
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. track — a path
  16. track — a song
  17. court — of law
  18. lash — to lash out
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. rest — a break
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. sharp — clever
  23. track — to keep track
  24. bat — the animal

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