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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. You don't need to ________________ round.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  16. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  19. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. chip — in a computer
  3. band — a ring
  4. content — the amount
  5. band — a music group
  6. capital — a city
  7. file — a tool
  8. content — happy
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. pop — music
  11. capital — money
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. pop — to visit
  14. file — a line of people
  15. leaves — lets stay
  16. leaves — to go away
  17. pop — soda
  18. leaves — of a tree
  19. chip — to eat
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. file — a document
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. chip — for betting
  24. cold — an illness

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