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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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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: chest · lie · ground · plane · capital · prune · race · cold

  1. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  2. The ________________ took off on time.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. lie — an untruth
  2. plane — an aircraft
  3. ground — the earth
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. race — humankind
  6. lie — an untruth
  7. capital — money
  8. race — the arms race
  9. ground — a position
  10. prune — to trim
  11. lie — to recline
  12. chest — of your body
  13. capital — a city
  14. race — a contest
  15. prune — to trim
  16. plane — in geometry
  17. chest — of your body
  18. plane — a tool
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. chest — a box
  21. cold — not warm
  22. ground — crushed
  23. cold — an illness
  24. cold — the Cold War

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