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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 120 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: season · prune · bound · cold · pitcher · capital · present · bulb

  1. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. I've got to change the light ________________.
  11. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  12. Did you ________________ the meat?
  13. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  18. He is an ace ________________.
  19. That was ________________ to happen.
  20. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  21. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  24. The light ________________ burned out.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. prune — to trim
  3. cold — not warm
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. season — in sport
  6. capital — money
  7. bulb — of a plant
  8. capital — a city
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. bulb — for light
  11. season — of the year
  12. season — to add flavour
  13. present — a gift
  14. prune — to trim
  15. present — there
  16. cold — an illness
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. pitcher — in baseball
  19. bound — certain
  20. bound — tied together
  21. present — the time now
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. bound — obliged
  24. bulb — for light

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