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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 120 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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: stem · nail · cell · bark · file · capital · current · prune

  1. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  11. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  12. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. The ________________ went through the wall.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — to come from
  2. prune — to trim
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. file — a tool
  5. cell — a phone
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. capital — money
  8. bark — to shout
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. nail — on a finger
  11. current — of water
  12. current — happening now
  13. prune — to trim
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. file — a line of people
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. cell — in biology
  19. file — a document
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. current — electric
  22. capital — a city
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. stem — of a plant

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