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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 116 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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  9. He works in a ________________ mill.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. She's very handy with a ________________.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. field — a subject
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. wound — an injury
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. capital — money
  7. race — humankind
  8. perch — the fish
  9. saw — the tool
  10. row — to paddle
  11. saw — past of 'see'
  12. field — farmland
  13. race — the arms race
  14. race — a contest
  15. content — the amount
  16. row — a line
  17. content — happy
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. field — for sport
  22. wound — an injury
  23. saw — the tool
  24. content — videos and posts

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