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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: content · object · march · cell · drill · capital

  1. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. drill — army training
  3. cell — in biology
  4. content — happy
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. object — to protest
  7. capital — money
  8. march — the month
  9. capital — a city
  10. cell — a phone
  11. march — the month
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. drill — the tool
  14. march — music
  15. object — a thing
  16. drill — a practice
  17. content — the amount
  18. object — an aim

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