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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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  11. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. I can't ________________ this cold.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. capital — a city
  3. stand — on your feet
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. spell — a short time
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. land — ground
  10. trunk — of an elephant
  11. trunk — of a tree
  12. spell — magic
  13. land — a country
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. spell — letters
  16. content — happy
  17. content — the amount
  18. stand — for spectators
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. bat — the animal
  21. stand — to bear
  22. mine — for digging
  23. land — to come down
  24. mine — an explosive

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