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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. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  22. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  23. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. root — of a plant
  3. content — the amount
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. land — to come down
  7. capital — a city
  8. game — a match
  9. land — ground
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. capital — money
  13. cell — a phone
  14. cell — in biology
  15. game — wild animals
  16. prune — to trim
  17. content — happy
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. root — the cause
  22. root — of a word
  23. prune — to trim
  24. land — a country

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