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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: hand · last · land · present · capital · club · court · march

  1. When are we going to ________________?
  2. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. present — there
  3. club — for golf
  4. court — for sport
  5. court — of law
  6. club — a group
  7. last — final
  8. club — for dancing
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. hand — help
  11. present — the time now
  12. capital — money
  13. court — of a king
  14. last — finally
  15. capital — a city
  16. last — to go on
  17. march — music
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. present — a gift
  20. march — the month
  21. hand — in cards
  22. march — the month
  23. land — a country
  24. land — ground

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