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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: safe · stem · capital · bat · prune · deal · cold · file

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  3. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  12. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  20. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  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. cold — not warm
  2. deal — to handle
  3. stem — of a plant
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. capital — a city
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. bat — the animal
  8. deal — an agreement
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. file — a document
  11. safe — out of danger
  12. deal — a big deal
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. prune — to trim
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. prune — to trim
  17. stem — to come from
  18. file — a line of people
  19. safe — a strongbox
  20. safe — out of danger
  21. file — a tool
  22. cold — an illness
  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