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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: dip · fork · court · capital · field · fine · rock · clip

  1. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  6. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  15. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  16. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  17. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  18. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  19. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. fine — all right
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. court — for sport
  5. rock — to move gently
  6. court — of a king
  7. clip — for paper
  8. fork — in a road
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. field — farmland
  12. field — for sport
  13. clip — to cut
  14. dip — to sink
  15. dip — to dunk
  16. dip — a sauce
  17. fine — high quality
  18. fine — a penalty
  19. rock — music
  20. clip — a video
  21. capital — money
  22. rock — a stone
  23. field — a subject
  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