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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: hand · drill · court · march · capital · season · chest · fork

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. Did you ________________ the meat?
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  22. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. march — the month
  3. season — to add flavour
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. fork — in a road
  6. drill — the tool
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. march — the month
  9. hand — in cards
  10. capital — money
  11. march — music
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. court — of law
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. chest — of your body
  16. drill — a practice
  17. season — of the year
  18. court — of a king
  19. hand — help
  20. capital — a city
  21. season — in sport
  22. drill — army training
  23. chest — a box
  24. chest — of your body

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