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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.

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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: court · lean · mouse · capital · chest · bass · stick · cold

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  3. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  8. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  13. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  14. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  17. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  24. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. lean — to rest against
  3. lean — thin
  4. court — for sport
  5. bass — the instrument
  6. cold — an illness
  7. mouse — the animal
  8. stick — a piece of wood
  9. court — of law
  10. chest — a box
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. mouse — the animal
  13. lean — to bend
  14. bass — the fish
  15. capital — a city
  16. mouse — for a computer
  17. stick — to attach or keep to
  18. chest — of your body
  19. court — of a king
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. chest — of your body
  22. capital — money
  23. stick — a piece of wood
  24. bass — low music

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