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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 120 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: kid · file · prune · rock · capital · wind · sharp · chest

  1. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. file — a tool
  3. prune — to trim
  4. chest — of your body
  5. capital — money
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. wind — moving air
  8. sharp — clever
  9. rock — to move gently
  10. kid — child
  11. capital — a city
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. chest — a box
  14. wind — moving air
  15. kid — to tease
  16. prune — to trim
  17. file — a line of people
  18. rock — a stone
  19. file — a document
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. chest — of your body
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. rock — music

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