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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: leaves · spell · hand · land · field · band · content · capital

  1. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  21. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. hand — help
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. hand — in cards
  5. content — the amount
  6. field — for sport
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. spell — magic
  10. content — happy
  11. capital — money
  12. field — farmland
  13. land — ground
  14. land — a country
  15. field — a subject
  16. spell — a short time
  17. land — to come down
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. spell — letters
  20. leaves — lets stay
  21. leaves — to go away
  22. capital — a city
  23. leaves — of a tree
  24. band — a ring

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