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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: wound · stem · capital · file · hand · board · bark · prune

  1. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  19. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  20. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. prune — to trim
  3. prune — to trim
  4. board — to get on
  5. file — a line of people
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. bark — to shout
  11. capital — money
  12. file — a document
  13. file — a tool
  14. hand — in cards
  15. board — a flat piece
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. capital — a city
  18. stem — of a plant
  19. board — a committee
  20. stem — a stem cell
  21. wound — an injury
  22. stem — to come from
  23. hand — help
  24. wound — an injury

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