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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 116 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: deal · drill · content · mine · nail · race · capital · net

  1. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  2. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  8. The ________________ went through the wall.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — to handle
  2. deal — a big deal
  3. mine — for digging
  4. drill — a practice
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. race — the arms race
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. nail — for a hammer
  9. content — happy
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. content — the amount
  13. net — after costs
  14. drill — the tool
  15. race — humankind
  16. race — a contest
  17. capital — money
  18. net — for catching
  19. capital — a city
  20. drill — army training
  21. deal — an agreement
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. nail — on a finger
  24. net — in sport

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