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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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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 · land · perch · face · content · kid · row · fork

  1. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  10. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  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. fork — to eat with
  2. kid — to tease
  3. perch — the fish
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. face — part of the head
  6. land — to come down
  7. land — ground
  8. kid — child
  9. face — to point toward
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. capital — money
  12. face — to confront
  13. capital — a city
  14. content — the amount
  15. land — a country
  16. fork — a garden tool
  17. fork — in a road
  18. row — a line
  19. row — to paddle
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. content — happy
  23. perch — for a bird
  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