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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: patient · court · hand · current · bat · wound · pop · capital

  1. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  11. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  12. We're almost out of ________________.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. You don't need to ________________ round.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  22. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. court — of law
  4. court — for sport
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. court — of a king
  7. wound — an injury
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. bat — the animal
  10. current — electric
  11. current — of water
  12. pop — soda
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. capital — a city
  15. pop — to visit
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. hand — help
  19. hand — in cards
  20. wound — an injury
  21. patient — calm and waiting
  22. current — happening now
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. pop — music

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