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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: lie · capital · roll · field · chest · file · court · pitcher

  1. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. We're on a ________________ here.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. chest — a box
  3. roll — a cake
  4. chest — of your body
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. file — a document
  8. field — a subject
  9. roll — a list
  10. field — for sport
  11. file — a tool
  12. field — farmland
  13. capital — a city
  14. lie — an untruth
  15. capital — money
  16. court — of a king
  17. lie — to recline
  18. file — a line of people
  19. lie — an untruth
  20. court — of law
  21. chest — of your body
  22. court — for sport
  23. roll — on a roll
  24. pitcher — a jug

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