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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 · swing · bound · capital · cap · temple · arm · clip

  1. When was this ________________ built?
  2. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  5. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  6. My father caught me by the ________________.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  9. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  21. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. That was ________________ to happen.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. swing — to play on
  4. bound — tied together
  5. temple — a place of worship
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. arm — a part of something
  9. cap — a lid
  10. capital — a city
  11. capital — money
  12. temple — side of the head
  13. clip — for paper
  14. clip — a video
  15. court — of a king
  16. court — for sport
  17. swing — music
  18. bound — obliged
  19. clip — to cut
  20. cap — of ice
  21. cap — a hat
  22. court — of law
  23. bound — certain
  24. swing — in golf

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