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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: content · race · saw · kick · date · capital · spell · shower

  1. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  4. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. He works in a ________________ mill.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. She's very handy with a ________________.
  18. Have you settled on a ________________?
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  24. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. spell — letters
  3. race — the arms race
  4. kick — in football
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. spell — a short time
  8. capital — a city
  9. saw — the tool
  10. shower — rain
  11. capital — money
  12. date — the fruit
  13. content — happy
  14. spell — magic
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. saw — the tool
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. race — humankind
  20. content — the amount
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. shower — to wash
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  24. kick — with a leg

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