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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: chair · rash · court · capital · kid · wound · calf · band

  1. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  16. Don't do anything ________________.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  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. capital — money
  2. chair — a leader
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. calf — of the leg
  5. band — a music group
  6. capital — a city
  7. calf — a young animal
  8. band — a ring
  9. kid — child
  10. kid — to tease
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. court — for sport
  14. wound — an injury
  15. rash — on the skin
  16. rash — hasty
  17. court — of a king
  18. wound — an injury
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. chair — a professorship
  21. court — of law
  22. calf — a young animal
  23. rash — a series
  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