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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: row · court · capital · tube · clip · land · bass · fine

  1. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  15. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — the fish
  2. court — of a king
  3. fine — a penalty
  4. land — a country
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. fine — all right
  7. bass — low music
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. clip — for paper
  10. capital — money
  11. tube — the underground
  12. land — to come down
  13. row — a line
  14. tube — a container
  15. fine — high quality
  16. clip — a video
  17. court — for sport
  18. capital — a city
  19. land — ground
  20. court — of law
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. bass — the instrument
  23. clip — to cut
  24. row — to paddle

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