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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: capital · ground · firm · date · bark · spell · band · trunk

  1. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. Have you settled on a ________________?
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  23. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  24. How do you ________________ your surname?

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. ground — a position
  4. ground — the earth
  5. spell — a short time
  6. firm — a company
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. date — the fruit
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. bark — to shout
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. band — a music group
  14. trunk — of a car
  15. spell — magic
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. band — a ring
  18. capital — a city
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. firm — steady
  21. capital — money
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. firm — decided
  24. spell — letters

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