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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 116 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: capital · wake · ball · mine · content · hand · spring · lash

  1. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. The King held a masked ________________.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  24. The spa offers ________________ extensions.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. capital — a city
  3. content — happy
  4. hand — help
  5. spring — a coil
  6. ball — a dance
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. spring — of water
  12. lash — to lash out
  13. wake — a trail
  14. mine — for digging
  15. ball — a round shape
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. hand — in cards
  19. spring — the season
  20. lash — a whip stroke
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. capital — money
  23. ball — a great time
  24. lash — an eyelash

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