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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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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: prune · mine · snap · cap · capital · pitcher · ground · rest

  1. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  19. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  22. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. Fill up this ________________ with water.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — what's left
  2. mine — for digging
  3. ground — crushed
  4. prune — to trim
  5. prune — to trim
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. ground — a position
  8. capital — a city
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. cap — a lid
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. ground — the earth
  13. capital — money
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. rest — what's left
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. snap — to click
  19. cap — a hat
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. rest — a break
  22. cap — of ice
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. pitcher — a jug

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