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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
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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: game · capital · leaves · cell · spell · land · last · squash

  1. False peace will not ________________.
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  10. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. The ________________ change colour in autumn.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. spell — magic
  3. spell — letters
  4. leaves — lets stay
  5. game — a match
  6. squash — the vegetable
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. last — finally
  9. leaves — to go away
  10. squash — the sport
  11. land — to come down
  12. capital — a city
  13. cell — a phone
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. spell — a short time
  17. land — ground
  18. last — final
  19. land — a country
  20. game — wild animals
  21. squash — to crush
  22. capital — money
  23. cell — in biology
  24. leaves — of a tree

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