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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 120 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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: cold · ball · perch · field · key · capital · stem · court

  1. The King held a masked ________________.
  2. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  12. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  20. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. This piece is in a major ________________.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. field — for sport
  3. capital — a city
  4. stem — to come from
  5. field — farmland
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. cold — not warm
  10. court — of a king
  11. key — for a lock
  12. key — the most important part
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. cold — an illness
  15. court — of law
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. capital — money
  19. stem — of a plant
  20. ball — a great time
  21. field — a subject
  22. perch — the fish
  23. key — in music
  24. court — for sport

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