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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: board · bear · clip · capital · ground · lash · chest · content

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  4. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  10. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  18. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. content — the amount
  3. bear — the animal
  4. lash — an eyelash
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. board — a flat piece
  7. ground — the earth
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. lash — a whip stroke
  10. bear — to put up with
  11. ground — a position
  12. lash — to lash out
  13. chest — a box
  14. board — a committee
  15. capital — a city
  16. clip — for paper
  17. board — to get on
  18. bear — the animal
  19. clip — a video
  20. clip — to cut
  21. chest — of your body
  22. capital — money
  23. ground — crushed
  24. chest — of your body

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