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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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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: chair · mine · field · race · content · kick · ground · capital

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. kick — in football
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. field — for sport
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. kick — with a leg
  8. content — happy
  9. content — the amount
  10. race — a contest
  11. mine — for digging
  12. capital — a city
  13. kick — a thrill
  14. capital — money
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. ground — the earth
  17. chair — a leader
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. field — a subject
  20. ground — a position
  21. race — the arms race
  22. race — humankind
  23. ground — crushed
  24. mine — belonging to me

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