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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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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: capital · cabinet · field · racket · hand · content · dip · chest

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  14. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  17. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. What do you think of the new ________________?
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. content — happy
  3. field — for sport
  4. dip — to sink
  5. chest — of your body
  6. hand — help
  7. content — the amount
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. dip — a sauce
  11. capital — money
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. cabinet — ministers
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. racket — a loud noise
  17. dip — to dunk
  18. field — farmland
  19. hand — in cards
  20. chest — of your body
  21. cabinet — a cupboard
  22. chest — a box
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. field — a subject

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