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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: rash · capital · kid · date · fork · content · drill · wave

  1. Have you settled on a ________________?
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  16. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  21. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. rash — a series
  4. capital — money
  5. drill — the tool
  6. capital — a city
  7. content — happy
  8. kid — child
  9. fork — to eat with
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. rash — hasty
  12. wave — of the sea
  13. content — the amount
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. wave — a sudden rise
  16. date — the fruit
  17. fork — in a road
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. drill — army training
  20. fork — a garden tool
  21. wave — with your hand
  22. drill — a practice
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. kid — to tease

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