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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: bat · season · prune · capital · land · file · ground · mug

  1. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. Did you ________________ the meat?
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. Where did you ________________ them?
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  19. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. Spring is a pleasant ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. mug — a cup
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. season — to add flavour
  5. capital — a city
  6. land — a country
  7. ground — crushed
  8. file — a tool
  9. mug — to rob
  10. land — to come down
  11. file — a document
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. capital — money
  14. bat — the animal
  15. season — in sport
  16. land — ground
  17. ground — the earth
  18. mug — a face
  19. prune — to trim
  20. ground — a position
  21. file — a line of people
  22. prune — to trim
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. season — of the year

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