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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: wake · calf · capital · chip · spring · prune · kid · hand

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  20. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  21. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  24. He had ________________ pain while walking.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. spring — of water
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. capital — money
  5. prune — to trim
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. spring — the season
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. chip — to eat
  12. kid — child
  13. calf — a young animal
  14. kid — to tease
  15. hand — help
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. hand — in cards
  18. wake — a trail
  19. prune — to trim
  20. chip — in a computer
  21. chip — for betting
  22. spring — a coil
  23. calf — a young animal
  24. calf — of the leg

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