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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: field · hand · clip · capital · pound · calf · court · bank

  1. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  5. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  10. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  11. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. calf — of the leg
  3. field — a subject
  4. pound — to hit hard
  5. bank — for money
  6. hand — help
  7. pound — a weight
  8. court — for sport
  9. bank — for money
  10. bank — of a river
  11. calf — a young animal
  12. hand — in cards
  13. field — farmland
  14. clip — for paper
  15. clip — a video
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. pound — for dogs
  18. clip — to cut
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. field — for sport
  21. court — of a king
  22. capital — a city
  23. calf — a young animal
  24. court — of law

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