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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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  10. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  19. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. capital — a city
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. mark — a trace
  5. content — the amount
  6. cold — an illness
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. dip — to sink
  10. mark — to pay attention
  11. capital — money
  12. cold — not warm
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. cell — a phone
  16. dip — to dunk
  17. cell — in biology
  18. mark — a grade
  19. dip — a sauce
  20. game — wild animals
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. game — a match
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. content — happy

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