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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: wound · mine · content · staff · march · ground · capital · leaves

  1. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. leaves — of a tree
  2. content — happy
  3. capital — money
  4. ground — the earth
  5. ground — crushed
  6. capital — a city
  7. wound — an injury
  8. wound — an injury
  9. staff — employees
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. leaves — to go away
  12. march — the month
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. staff — employees
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. march — music
  17. staff — a stick
  18. content — the amount
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. mine — for digging
  21. march — the month
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. leaves — lets stay
  24. ground — a position

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