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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: hand · capital · prune · spring · bank · file · tear · leaves

  1. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  3. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  11. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. leaves — to go away
  3. bank — of a river
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. spring — a coil
  6. file — a tool
  7. spring — the season
  8. prune — to trim
  9. tear — from crying
  10. bank — for money
  11. bank — for money
  12. spring — of water
  13. file — a line of people
  14. leaves — of a tree
  15. tear — from crying
  16. capital — money
  17. hand — in cards
  18. hand — help
  19. file — a document
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. capital — a city
  22. tear — to rip
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. leaves — lets stay

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