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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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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: present · cell · content · court · capital · bulb

  1. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. The light ________________ burned out.
  8. I've got to change the light ________________.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  17. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. content — videos and posts
  2. content — the amount
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. bulb — of a plant
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. capital — a city
  7. bulb — for light
  8. bulb — for light
  9. content — happy
  10. capital — money
  11. court — for sport
  12. cell — in biology
  13. present — there
  14. cell — a phone
  15. court — of law
  16. present — a gift
  17. present — the time now
  18. court — of a king

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