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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: tear · squash · game · mate · capital · roll · club · content

  1. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  7. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  12. We're on a ________________ here.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. Have you found your soul ________________?
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. content — happy
  3. tear — from crying
  4. squash — the sport
  5. club — for golf
  6. mate — to breed
  7. roll — a cake
  8. game — wild animals
  9. mate — a friend
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. squash — to crush
  12. roll — on a roll
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. club — for dancing
  15. game — a match
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. mate — a partner
  18. tear — to rip
  19. tear — from crying
  20. club — a group
  21. capital — a city
  22. capital — money
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. roll — a list

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