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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: mate · foot · prune · board · bark · game · capital · band

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  6. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  7. Have you found your soul ________________?
  8. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  12. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  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. band — a ring
  2. foot — a measure
  3. prune — to trim
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. board — a flat piece
  6. board — to get on
  7. mate — a partner
  8. board — a committee
  9. prune — to trim
  10. game — a match
  11. mate — a friend
  12. foot — part of the body
  13. capital — money
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. capital — a city
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. bark — to shout
  19. foot — the bottom
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. game — wild animals
  22. mate — to breed
  23. band — a music group
  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