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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.

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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: land · last · capital · dip · kid · snap · cap · prune

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. cap — of ice
  3. prune — to trim
  4. kid — child
  5. snap — to click
  6. cap — a lid
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. dip — to dunk
  9. last — to go on
  10. land — ground
  11. dip — a sauce
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. cap — a hat
  14. land — to come down
  15. prune — to trim
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. last — finally
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. last — final
  20. capital — a city
  21. land — a country
  22. dip — to sink
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. capital — money

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