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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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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: fall · hand · court · capital · arm · cold · wave · club

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  5. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  12. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  19. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. My father caught me by the ________________.
  24. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. court — for sport
  4. wave — of the sea
  5. wave — a sudden rise
  6. cold — an illness
  7. hand — in cards
  8. fall — to drop
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. club — for dancing
  12. arm — a part of something
  13. hand — help
  14. wave — with your hand
  15. fall — the season
  16. court — of law
  17. cold — not warm
  18. fall — to drop
  19. club — a group
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. capital — money
  22. court — of a king
  23. arm — part of the body
  24. club — for golf

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