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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: last · roll · wind · capital · prune · ground · tube · spring

  1. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. We're on a ________________ here.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. spring — a coil
  3. tube — a container
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. wind — moving air
  6. spring — the season
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. capital — money
  9. roll — a list
  10. ground — a position
  11. last — final
  12. last — finally
  13. tube — in a tire
  14. prune — to trim
  15. capital — a city
  16. ground — crushed
  17. tube — the underground
  18. roll — a cake
  19. wind — moving air
  20. last — to go on
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. spring — of water
  23. roll — on a roll
  24. ground — the earth

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