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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. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. Have you met the new head ________________?
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. My father caught me by the ________________.
  12. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  13. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. The tickets are free of ________________.
  16. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  17. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  18. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. charge — electricity
  2. capital — a city
  3. field — a subject
  4. cold — not warm
  5. content — the amount
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. cold — an illness
  8. coach — pulled by horses
  9. capital — money
  10. field — for sport
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. charge — in control
  14. content — happy
  15. charge — a price
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. dip — a sauce
  18. dip — to sink
  19. field — farmland
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. dip — to dunk
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. arm — a part of something
  24. content — videos and posts

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