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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: lean · cold · bat · fork · capital · court · racket · ball

  1. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The King held a masked ________________.
  8. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  13. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  14. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  19. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  20. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  21. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. ball — a great time
  5. capital — money
  6. cold — not warm
  7. ball — a dance
  8. racket — a loud noise
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. capital — a city
  11. court — for sport
  12. fork — in a road
  13. lean — to bend
  14. lean — thin
  15. court — of a king
  16. cold — an illness
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. lean — to rest against
  19. ball — a round shape
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. fork — to eat with
  22. court — of law
  23. fork — a garden tool
  24. cold — the Cold War

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