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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: mine · rock · land · scale · content · kid · capital · stem

  1. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. stem — to come from
  3. capital — a city
  4. land — to come down
  5. rock — music
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. land — ground
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. capital — money
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. mine — for digging
  14. kid — child
  15. scale — size or range
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. rock — to move gently
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. content — happy
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. land — a country
  22. rock — a stone
  23. kid — to tease
  24. scale — in music

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