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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.

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: bat · rock · capital · cell · fan · wake · rash · content

  1. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  6. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  16. Don't do anything ________________.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. rock — to move gently
  6. rock — music
  7. content — the amount
  8. rock — a stone
  9. content — happy
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. capital — a city
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. cell — a phone
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. fan — to cool the air
  16. rash — hasty
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. bat — the animal
  20. wake — a trail
  21. capital — money
  22. rash — a series
  23. rash — on the skin
  24. cell — in biology

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