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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: rest · capital · content · spring · racket · shower · key · chest

  1. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  9. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  10. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. This piece is in a major ________________.
  23. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  24. He hit the ball with his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — what's left
  2. chest — of your body
  3. spring — the season
  4. chest — of your body
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. key — for a lock
  7. spring — a coil
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. rest — a break
  10. racket — a loud noise
  11. chest — a box
  12. spring — of water
  13. key — the most important part
  14. shower — to wash
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. content — happy
  17. content — the amount
  18. shower — rain
  19. capital — a city
  20. capital — money
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. key — in music
  23. rest — what's left
  24. racket — for tennis

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