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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: shower · content · capital · race · saw · dip · chest · nail

  1. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. She's very handy with a ________________.
  12. He works in a ________________ mill.
  13. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  14. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  15. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  16. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. The ________________ went through the wall.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  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. chest — of your body
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. capital — a city
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. race — a contest
  6. shower — to wash
  7. shower — rain
  8. content — happy
  9. nail — on a finger
  10. chest — a box
  11. saw — the tool
  12. saw — the tool
  13. dip — to dunk
  14. dip — to sink
  15. saw — past of 'see'
  16. dip — a sauce
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. nail — for a hammer
  19. content — the amount
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. capital — money
  22. race — the arms race
  23. race — humankind
  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