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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: hand · court · arm · band · cell · patient · capital · dip

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  10. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  11. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  14. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  15. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. My father caught me by the ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. band — a music group
  3. band — a ring
  4. cell — a phone
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. arm — a part of something
  7. court — of law
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. dip — to sink
  10. dip — a sauce
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. capital — money
  13. dip — to dunk
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. patient — calm and waiting
  16. court — of a king
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. hand — in cards
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. cell — in biology
  22. hand — help
  23. arm — part of the body
  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