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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: tear · last · sharp · stock · saw · prune · capital · foot

  1. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. He works in a ________________ mill.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. She's very handy with a ________________.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  22. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. I have a corn on my right ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. prune — to trim
  4. tear — from crying
  5. tear — from crying
  6. capital — money
  7. sharp — with an edge
  8. stock — shares
  9. last — final
  10. prune — to trim
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. foot — the bottom
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. saw — the tool
  15. sharp — clever
  16. saw — past of 'see'
  17. last — to go on
  18. last — finally
  19. saw — the tool
  20. tear — to rip
  21. stock — goods
  22. foot — a measure
  23. capital — a city
  24. foot — part of the body

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