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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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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: saw · content · stock · dip · face · capital · game · bat

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.
  19. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  22. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  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. content — happy
  2. game — wild animals
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. dip — a sauce
  5. face — to confront
  6. face — part of the head
  7. saw — the tool
  8. dip — to dunk
  9. bat — the animal
  10. stock — goods
  11. stock — shares
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. capital — money
  15. content — the amount
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. saw — the tool
  19. face — to point toward
  20. capital — a city
  21. dip — to sink
  22. saw — past of 'see'
  23. game — a match
  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