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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 120 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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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: bay · hand · content · last · capital · bat · vault · pound

  1. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. My mare is ________________ in color.
  13. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  17. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  18. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  22. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. bat — the animal
  3. pound — for dogs
  4. content — happy
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. capital — a city
  7. last — final
  8. bay — to keep at bay
  9. hand — help
  10. last — to go on
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. bay — a horse colour
  13. vault — an arched ceiling
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. hand — in cards
  16. pound — a weight
  17. vault — in gymnastics
  18. bay — a part of the sea
  19. capital — money
  20. content — the amount
  21. pound — to hit hard
  22. vault — a safe
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. bat — in an idiom

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