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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: fall · hand · drill · capital · board · court · ball · stock

  1. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. The King held a masked ________________.
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  13. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. The ________________ market has crashed.
  20. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. hand — help
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. drill — a practice
  6. fall — to drop
  7. ball — a dance
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. court — for sport
  10. ball — a round shape
  11. fall — to drop
  12. board — a committee
  13. board — a flat piece
  14. drill — the tool
  15. ball — a great time
  16. fall — the season
  17. drill — army training
  18. capital — a city
  19. stock — shares
  20. board — to get on
  21. capital — money
  22. court — of a king
  23. hand — in cards
  24. stock — goods

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