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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: rest · straw · court · capital · pitcher · shower · spring · dip

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  10. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. He is an ace ________________.
  19. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. capital — a city
  3. court — of a king
  4. dip — a sauce
  5. shower — rain
  6. rest — what's left
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. spring — of water
  9. rest — a break
  10. dip — to dunk
  11. spring — a coil
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. rest — what's left
  16. spring — the season
  17. shower — to wash
  18. pitcher — in baseball
  19. dip — to sink
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. capital — money
  22. court — of law
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. capital — a big letter

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