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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.

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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: bark · capital · trunk · wound · prune · bound · sharp · spell

  1. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. That was ________________ to happen.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. spell — magic
  3. trunk — of an elephant
  4. spell — letters
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. bound — certain
  7. capital — a city
  8. bound — obliged
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. bound — tied together
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. capital — money
  17. spell — a short time
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. wound — an injury
  20. sharp — clever
  21. wound — an injury
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. prune — to trim
  24. bark — to shout

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