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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  23. What do you think of the new ________________?
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. cabinet — a cupboard
  3. spell — letters
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. degree — an amount
  8. can — a tin
  9. degree — temperature
  10. content — the amount
  11. cabinet — ministers
  12. snap — to click
  13. face — to point toward
  14. capital — a city
  15. can — a tin
  16. spell — a short time
  17. degree — from a university
  18. capital — money
  19. can — to be able to
  20. face — part of the head
  21. spell — magic
  22. face — to confront
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. snap — to speak sharply

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