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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: cold · mark · bat · content · nail · mate · capital · cue

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  8. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  11. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  16. Have you found your soul ________________?
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  20. The ________________ went through the wall.
  21. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. mark — a grade
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. capital — a city
  7. mate — a friend
  8. mark — a trace
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. nail — on a finger
  11. cue — a hint
  12. capital — money
  13. mate — to breed
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. cue — for pool
  16. mate — a partner
  17. cold — not warm
  18. cold — an illness
  19. cue — a signal
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. mark — to pay attention
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. content — the amount
  24. bat — the animal

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