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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: rush · file · kid · capital · wound · content · ground · wave

  1. That must've been a ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  22. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — a thrill
  2. kid — to tease
  3. capital — a city
  4. content — happy
  5. ground — crushed
  6. wound — an injury
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. content — the amount
  9. ground — the earth
  10. wave — with your hand
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. file — a tool
  13. capital — money
  14. wave — of the sea
  15. wound — an injury
  16. ground — a position
  17. rush — hurry
  18. file — a line of people
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. file — a document
  21. wave — a sudden rise
  22. rush — to hurry
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. kid — child

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