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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: ball · sharp · foot · scale · content · land · capital · game

  1. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. The King held a masked ________________.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. foot — the bottom
  2. content — happy
  3. capital — money
  4. content — the amount
  5. ball — a dance
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. capital — a city
  9. ball — a great time
  10. game — wild animals
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. game — a match
  14. sharp — clever
  15. scale — size or range
  16. foot — a measure
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. land — a country
  20. foot — part of the body
  21. scale — in music
  22. land — ground
  23. land — to come down
  24. scale — for weighing

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