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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: content · drill · capital · band · ruler · vault · cold · mate

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  15. Have you found your soul ________________?
  16. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  24. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. ruler — a monarch
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. drill — a practice
  5. vault — an arched ceiling
  6. band — a music group
  7. drill — army training
  8. cold — an illness
  9. content — the amount
  10. cold — not warm
  11. ruler — for measuring
  12. capital — money
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. mate — a friend
  15. mate — a partner
  16. vault — in gymnastics
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. band — a ring
  19. vault — a safe
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. drill — the tool
  22. capital — a city
  23. mate — to breed
  24. ruler — for measuring

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