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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: content · pop · mine · cell · capital · fan · race · squash

  1. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  9. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. We're almost out of ________________.
  15. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. pop — to visit
  3. content — happy
  4. capital — a city
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. race — the arms race
  8. squash — to crush
  9. fan — to cool the air
  10. mine — for digging
  11. pop — music
  12. capital — money
  13. cell — a phone
  14. pop — soda
  15. squash — the sport
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. cell — in biology
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. race — humankind
  21. race — a contest
  22. content — the amount
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. squash — the vegetable

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