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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. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  8. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  9. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  10. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. content — happy
  3. mark — a grade
  4. capital — money
  5. file — a document
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. mark — to pay attention
  8. bore — to tire
  9. mark — a trace
  10. bore — gave birth
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. cold — an illness
  13. scale — size or range
  14. trunk — of a car
  15. content — the amount
  16. bore — to drill
  17. file — a line of people
  18. scale — in music
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. file — a tool
  21. cold — not warm
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. capital — a city

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