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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: last · trunk · clip · wind · ball · shower · court · capital

  1. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  18. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — a meteor shower
  2. court — of a king
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. shower — rain
  6. capital — money
  7. last — to go on
  8. last — final
  9. ball — a dance
  10. clip — to cut
  11. clip — a video
  12. ball — a great time
  13. court — for sport
  14. clip — for paper
  15. wind — moving air
  16. shower — to wash
  17. trunk — of a car
  18. ball — a round shape
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. capital — a city
  21. trunk — of an elephant
  22. last — finally
  23. court — of law
  24. wind — moving air

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