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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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  7. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  8. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  9. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  20. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. capital — a city
  3. content — happy
  4. club — for dancing
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. drill — a practice
  7. lean — thin
  8. club — for golf
  9. lean — to bend
  10. drill — the tool
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. drill — army training
  13. lean — to rest against
  14. mine — for digging
  15. bass — low music
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. bass — the instrument
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. club — a group
  20. scale — size or range
  21. scale — in music
  22. bass — the fish
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. content — the amount

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