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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: prune · wind · game · object · capital · present · pass · band

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  5. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  21. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. pass — to succeed
  3. game — a match
  4. present — there
  5. present — a gift
  6. prune — to trim
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. wind — moving air
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. game — wild animals
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. band — a ring
  14. object — to protest
  15. wind — moving air
  16. prune — to trim
  17. pass — a permit
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. present — the time now
  20. object — an aim
  21. object — a thing
  22. capital — money
  23. band — a music group
  24. pass — to spend time

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