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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  21. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — high quality
  2. cell — a phone
  3. fine — a penalty
  4. content — happy
  5. toast — bread
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. ground — a position
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. capital — a city
  11. band — a rubber band
  12. cell — in biology
  13. fine — all right
  14. band — a ring
  15. bat — the animal
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. content — the amount
  18. ground — crushed
  19. ground — the earth
  20. toast — a drink to someone
  21. toast — the most admired
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. capital — money
  24. band — a music group

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