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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  3. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  6. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  9. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  13. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  14. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Have you found your soul ________________?
  18. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  19. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  22. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  23. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. chip — in a computer
  4. capital — a city
  5. patient — calm and waiting
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. mate — to breed
  9. firm — a company
  10. content — the amount
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. chip — to eat
  13. chip — for betting
  14. firm — decided
  15. cold — not warm
  16. cold — an illness
  17. mate — a partner
  18. craft — boats
  19. craft — a skill
  20. capital — money
  21. mate — a friend
  22. craft — a handicraft
  23. firm — steady
  24. cold — the Cold War

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