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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: march · land · capital · season · clip · prune · bowl · bore

  1. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  17. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  18. Did you ________________ the meat?
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  23. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  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. bore — gave birth
  2. land — a country
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. prune — to trim
  5. land — ground
  6. clip — to cut
  7. prune — to trim
  8. capital — a city
  9. bore — to drill
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. land — to come down
  13. bore — to tire
  14. march — the month
  15. clip — a video
  16. bowl — a dish
  17. season — in sport
  18. season — to add flavour
  19. clip — for paper
  20. march — music
  21. march — the month
  22. season — of the year
  23. bowl — to roll
  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