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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: safe · chest · net · mark · cold · capital · content · track

  1. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  7. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  23. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  24. He keeps ________________ of his days.

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

Answer key

  1. safe — out of danger
  2. content — happy
  3. mark — a trace
  4. chest — of your body
  5. chest — a box
  6. track — a path
  7. mark — a grade
  8. net — after costs
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. safe — a strongbox
  12. track — a song
  13. capital — a city
  14. content — the amount
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. net — in sport
  17. chest — of your body
  18. net — for catching
  19. cold — not warm
  20. capital — money
  21. cold — an illness
  22. mark — to pay attention
  23. safe — out of danger
  24. track — to keep track

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