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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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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: pound · capital · land · cell · bat · content · chest · board

  1. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  23. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. board — a flat piece
  3. cell — a phone
  4. land — to come down
  5. pound — for dogs
  6. land — a country
  7. chest — of your body
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. pound — to hit hard
  10. capital — money
  11. capital — a city
  12. board — to get on
  13. content — the amount
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. chest — a box
  16. chest — of your body
  17. bat — the animal
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. land — ground
  20. content — happy
  21. cell — in biology
  22. board — a committee
  23. pound — a weight
  24. bat — for baseball

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