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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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. The tickets are free of ________________.
  4. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  5. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  21. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  22. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. ground — a position
  3. charge — a price
  4. object — a thing
  5. charge — in control
  6. file — a line of people
  7. content — happy
  8. cold — an illness
  9. ground — the earth
  10. chip — for betting
  11. capital — money
  12. content — the amount
  13. charge — electricity
  14. cold — not warm
  15. ground — crushed
  16. chip — in a computer
  17. file — a document
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. file — a tool
  20. object — to protest
  21. object — an aim
  22. chip — to eat
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. capital — a big letter

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