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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: capital · game · cell · coach · foot · kid · bear · mine

  1. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  9. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  15. Have you met the new head ________________?
  16. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. foot — the bottom
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. capital — money
  6. coach — pulled by horses
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. bear — to put up with
  9. foot — a measure
  10. game — a match
  11. bear — the animal
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. bear — the animal
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. foot — part of the body
  17. kid — to tease
  18. capital — a city
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. cell — in biology
  21. mine — for digging
  22. kid — child
  23. cell — a phone
  24. coach — a trainer

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