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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: mate · court · cold · capital · press · pop · cue · lash

  1. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. You don't need to ________________ round.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  14. Have you found your soul ________________?
  15. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  16. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  19. We're almost out of ________________.
  20. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.

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

Answer key

  1. cue — a signal
  2. court — of law
  3. cold — not warm
  4. press — to push
  5. lash — a whip stroke
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. court — for sport
  8. cold — an illness
  9. pop — to visit
  10. capital — a city
  11. press — a publisher
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. lash — an eyelash
  14. mate — a partner
  15. lash — to lash out
  16. cue — a hint
  17. pop — music
  18. mate — a friend
  19. pop — soda
  20. cue — for pool
  21. capital — money
  22. mate — to breed
  23. court — of a king
  24. press — newspapers

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