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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: chip · hand · shower · ball · field · nail · capital · content

  1. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  2. The King held a masked ________________.
  3. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  4. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  5. The ________________ went through the wall.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — on a finger
  2. ball — a dance
  3. chip — to eat
  4. nail — for a hammer
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. capital — a city
  7. hand — in cards
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. hand — help
  10. ball — a round shape
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. field — a subject
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. chip — for betting
  15. field — farmland
  16. capital — money
  17. content — happy
  18. content — the amount
  19. ball — a great time
  20. shower — rain
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. chip — in a computer
  23. field — for sport
  24. shower — to wash

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