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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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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. I can't ________________ this cold.
  15. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. content — happy
  3. capital — money
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. kid — child
  7. chair — a leader
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. stand — on your feet
  11. land — ground
  12. capital — a city
  13. land — to come down
  14. stand — to bear
  15. stand — for spectators
  16. land — a country
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. sharp — clever
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. content — the amount
  22. prune — to trim
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. prune — to trim

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