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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: nail · cold · field · content · mate · chip · branch · capital

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  3. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. Have you found your soul ________________?
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The ________________ went through the wall.
  8. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  16. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  17. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. nail — on a finger
  3. chip — to eat
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. mate — a partner
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. chip — in a computer
  9. capital — money
  10. content — happy
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. branch — of a tree
  13. field — for sport
  14. content — the amount
  15. mate — to breed
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. branch — a division
  18. field — farmland
  19. mate — a friend
  20. field — a subject
  21. cold — not warm
  22. chip — for betting
  23. capital — a city
  24. branch — of a bank

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