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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 120 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: capital · content · wound · ruler · track · chest · bat · hand

  1. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. ruler — a monarch
  2. content — happy
  3. chest — of your body
  4. wound — an injury
  5. hand — help
  6. ruler — for measuring
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. chest — of your body
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. track — to keep track
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. hand — in cards
  13. content — the amount
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. capital — money
  16. wound — an injury
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. track — a path
  19. chest — a box
  20. bat — the animal
  21. ruler — for measuring
  22. capital — a city
  23. track — a song
  24. capital — a big letter

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