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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: cell · cold · race · swing · drill · deal · capital · content

  1. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  2. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — a practice
  2. drill — army training
  3. swing — music
  4. cold — not warm
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. content — happy
  7. swing — to play on
  8. swing — in golf
  9. capital — money
  10. content — the amount
  11. race — the arms race
  12. cell — a phone
  13. cell — in biology
  14. race — a contest
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. deal — a big deal
  17. race — humankind
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. cold — an illness
  20. capital — a city
  21. deal — to handle
  22. drill — the tool
  23. deal — an agreement
  24. cell — in a prison

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