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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. Don't do anything ________________.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  14. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  15. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  16. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  17. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  24. I seem to be developing a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. capital — a city
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. band — a music group
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. rule — to rule out
  7. band — a ring
  8. rash — hasty
  9. prune — to trim
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. tear — from crying
  13. chair — a leader
  14. cap — a lid
  15. rule — a law
  16. cap — a hat
  17. rule — government
  18. capital — money
  19. tear — from crying
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. rash — a series
  22. tear — to rip
  23. cap — of ice
  24. rash — on the skin

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