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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 116 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: cell · mine · capital · wound · content · field · march · suit

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. When will it ________________ you to start?
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. mine — for digging
  3. cell — a phone
  4. capital — a city
  5. cell — in biology
  6. wound — an injury
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. march — music
  9. suit — clothes
  10. wound — an injury
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. suit — in cards
  14. content — the amount
  15. field — farmland
  16. suit — to fit
  17. field — for sport
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. march — the month
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. field — a subject
  22. capital — money
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. march — the month

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