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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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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: hand · rush · last · clip · firm · capital · pop · content

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. You don't need to ________________ round.
  8. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  9. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  10. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. That must've been a ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  24. We're almost out of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. capital — money
  3. content — the amount
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. pop — music
  7. pop — to visit
  8. firm — a company
  9. rush — to hurry
  10. rush — hurry
  11. last — finally
  12. capital — a city
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. firm — decided
  15. last — to go on
  16. content — happy
  17. hand — help
  18. clip — for paper
  19. clip — to cut
  20. rush — a thrill
  21. clip — a video
  22. hand — in cards
  23. firm — steady
  24. pop — soda

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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