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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: leaves · capital · kid · prune · spring · current

  1. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  4. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  5. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. kid — to tease
  3. leaves — lets stay
  4. current — of water
  5. leaves — of a tree
  6. spring — of water
  7. leaves — to go away
  8. prune — to trim
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. spring — the season
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. current — happening now
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. kid — child
  15. spring — a coil
  16. capital — a city
  17. current — electric
  18. capital — money

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