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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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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: lash · board · swing · fork · field · capital · wound · content

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  3. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  16. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  17. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. David sat on the ________________.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. lash — a whip stroke
  3. board — a committee
  4. field — a subject
  5. board — a flat piece
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. fork — in a road
  8. wound — an injury
  9. board — to get on
  10. swing — in golf
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. swing — music
  13. field — farmland
  14. capital — a city
  15. lash — to lash out
  16. fork — a garden tool
  17. lash — an eyelash
  18. content — the amount
  19. wound — an injury
  20. capital — money
  21. fork — to eat with
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. swing — to play on
  24. field — for sport

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