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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: chair · race · capital · roll · prune · land · deal · fork

  1. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  13. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  14. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  19. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. We're on a ________________ here.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. deal — an agreement
  3. chair — a leader
  4. roll — a cake
  5. land — to come down
  6. capital — a city
  7. land — ground
  8. land — a country
  9. prune — to trim
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. race — a contest
  12. roll — a list
  13. deal — to handle
  14. fork — to eat with
  15. prune — to trim
  16. fork — in a road
  17. capital — money
  18. fork — a garden tool
  19. deal — a big deal
  20. race — humankind
  21. race — the arms race
  22. roll — on a roll
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. chair — a professorship

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