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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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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: root · kid · cold · content · lie · file · capital · land

  1. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  20. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  21. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  22. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. content — videos and posts
  2. lie — to recline
  3. land — a country
  4. cold — an illness
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. file — a line of people
  7. file — a tool
  8. content — happy
  9. land — ground
  10. root — of a plant
  11. land — to come down
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. kid — to tease
  14. capital — a city
  15. cold — not warm
  16. capital — money
  17. kid — child
  18. content — the amount
  19. lie — an untruth
  20. lie — an untruth
  21. root — of a word
  22. root — the cause
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. file — a document

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