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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: fan · net · capital · content · staff · lean · band · prune

  1. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  12. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  23. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. lean — to bend
  3. net — in sport
  4. staff — a stick
  5. band — a music group
  6. net — after costs
  7. content — the amount
  8. capital — money
  9. net — for catching
  10. content — happy
  11. fan — to cool the air
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. band — a ring
  15. lean — to rest against
  16. capital — a city
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. staff — employees
  19. prune — to trim
  20. lean — thin
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. staff — employees
  23. fan — a supporter
  24. prune — the fruit

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