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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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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: court · content · capital · wind · bore · season · drill · cell

  1. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  6. Did you ________________ the meat?
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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. capital — a city
  4. season — of the year
  5. season — in sport
  6. season — to add flavour
  7. wind — moving air
  8. capital — money
  9. drill — a practice
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. bore — to tire
  12. drill — army training
  13. court — for sport
  14. cell — in biology
  15. court — of a king
  16. court — of law
  17. bore — to drill
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. bore — gave birth
  20. drill — the tool
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. cell — a phone
  23. wind — moving air
  24. wind — to turn a key

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