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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: suit · shower · land · court · capital · kid · cap · spell

  1. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. When will it ________________ you to start?
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  20. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  21. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a hat
  2. kid — to tease
  3. land — ground
  4. capital — a city
  5. suit — to fit
  6. spell — a short time
  7. spell — letters
  8. court — for sport
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. capital — money
  11. court — of a king
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. land — a country
  14. cap — a lid
  15. spell — magic
  16. shower — to wash
  17. shower — rain
  18. court — of law
  19. suit — in cards
  20. cap — of ice
  21. suit — clothes
  22. land — to come down
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. kid — child

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