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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.

Make a worksheet

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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: capital · cell · degree · content · ball · toast

  1. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  6. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  11. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. content — happy
  3. toast — the most admired
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. toast — bread
  6. ball — a great time
  7. content — the amount
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. ball — a dance
  10. ball — a round shape
  11. toast — a drink to someone
  12. degree — from a university
  13. degree — temperature
  14. degree — an amount
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. capital — money
  17. capital — a city
  18. cell — in biology

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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