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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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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 · snap · rest · tear · wake · pass · object · capital

  1. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  4. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  5. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  13. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  16. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  22. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  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. wake — before a funeral
  2. tear — from crying
  3. rest — a break
  4. pass — a permit
  5. object — to protest
  6. snap — to click
  7. object — an aim
  8. tear — to rip
  9. prune — to trim
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. pass — to succeed
  13. rest — what's left
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. object — a thing
  16. wake — a trail
  17. prune — to trim
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. capital — a city
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. rest — what's left
  22. pass — to spend time
  23. tear — from crying
  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