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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 116 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 · bound · mine · mate · file · race · deal · prune

  1. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. Have you found your soul ________________?
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. That was ________________ to happen.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. prune — to trim
  3. deal — a big deal
  4. race — the arms race
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. bound — tied together
  7. race — humankind
  8. deal — to handle
  9. capital — a city
  10. mate — a partner
  11. race — a contest
  12. file — a tool
  13. mate — to breed
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. bound — obliged
  16. file — a line of people
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. bound — certain
  19. capital — money
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. deal — an agreement
  22. mine — for digging
  23. prune — to trim
  24. file — a document

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