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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: lash · court · land · hand · content · pound · capital · arm

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. My father caught me by the ________________.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  6. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  19. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  22. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. content — happy
  5. lash — a whip stroke
  6. pound — for dogs
  7. land — to come down
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. hand — help
  10. land — ground
  11. capital — money
  12. arm — a part of something
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. hand — in cards
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. content — the amount
  17. land — a country
  18. lash — to lash out
  19. pound — a weight
  20. court — of law
  21. pound — to hit hard
  22. lash — an eyelash
  23. capital — a city
  24. court — of a king

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