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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 116 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: capital · nail · court · craft · file · band · last · bark

  1. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  4. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  14. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. The ________________ went through the wall.
  22. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — a dog's sound
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. nail — on a finger
  4. craft — a handicraft
  5. court — for sport
  6. bark — to shout
  7. last — finally
  8. band — a music group
  9. court — of law
  10. file — a document
  11. capital — money
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. craft — a skill
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. last — to go on
  16. band — a ring
  17. file — a tool
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. last — final
  20. file — a line of people
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. craft — boats
  23. court — of a king
  24. capital — a city

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