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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: field · wave · content · capital · craft · scale · band · root

  1. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  3. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  9. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  19. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  20. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  23. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  24. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. craft — a handicraft
  3. wave — of the sea
  4. content — the amount
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. field — a subject
  7. band — a music group
  8. craft — boats
  9. root — the cause
  10. capital — money
  11. band — a ring
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. content — happy
  14. craft — a skill
  15. scale — in music
  16. field — farmland
  17. capital — a city
  18. wave — a sudden rise
  19. scale — for weighing
  20. scale — size or range
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. root — of a word
  23. wave — with your hand
  24. root — of a plant

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