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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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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: capital · chest · cap · content · deal · clip · last · fall

  1. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  15. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  16. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  17. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. content — the amount
  3. clip — for paper
  4. last — to go on
  5. capital — a city
  6. cap — a hat
  7. capital — money
  8. chest — a box
  9. fall — to drop
  10. chest — of your body
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. clip — to cut
  13. clip — a video
  14. cap — a lid
  15. cap — of ice
  16. deal — an agreement
  17. deal — to handle
  18. chest — of your body
  19. last — final
  20. fall — to drop
  21. fall — the season
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. deal — a big deal
  24. content — happy

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