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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: fork · cold · mine · bass · rest · prune · capital · ball

  1. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  13. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  21. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  22. The King held a masked ________________.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  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. rest — what's left
  2. prune — to trim
  3. prune — to trim
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. capital — money
  6. ball — a round shape
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. mine — for digging
  9. fork — to eat with
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. bass — the fish
  13. rest — what's left
  14. cold — an illness
  15. cold — not warm
  16. bass — low music
  17. capital — a city
  18. fork — a garden tool
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. ball — a great time
  21. rest — a break
  22. ball — a dance
  23. fork — in a road
  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