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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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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: cap · content · bark · capital · cabinet · cold · deal · ground

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  6. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  9. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  24. What do you think of the new ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. cabinet — a cupboard
  3. cold — an illness
  4. bark — to shout
  5. deal — an agreement
  6. deal — a big deal
  7. content — happy
  8. cap — a lid
  9. deal — to handle
  10. ground — a position
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. cap — of ice
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. ground — crushed
  16. capital — a city
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. content — the amount
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. ground — the earth
  22. capital — money
  23. cap — a hat
  24. cabinet — ministers

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