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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: mine · rash · hide · capital · bat · sharp · content · rest

  1. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  7. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. Don't do anything ________________.
  17. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  18. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  22. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. This knife is not ________________ enough.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — clever
  2. capital — money
  3. mine — for digging
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. capital — a city
  6. rest — what's left
  7. rest — a break
  8. content — happy
  9. rash — a series
  10. hide — animal skin
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. content — the amount
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. rash — hasty
  17. hide — to keep secret
  18. rash — on the skin
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. bat — the animal
  21. hide — to keep secret
  22. rest — what's left
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. sharp — with an edge

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