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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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  15. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  16. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  24. The train ________________ at six o'clock.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. wind — moving air
  5. capital — money
  6. content — the amount
  7. staff — employees
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. hand — in cards
  10. capital — a city
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. bowl — a dish
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. leaves — lets stay
  15. bowl — to roll
  16. staff — employees
  17. hand — help
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. content — happy
  21. staff — a stick
  22. wind — moving air
  23. leaves — of a tree
  24. leaves — to go away

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