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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: hand · file · band · capital · prune · race · bear · march

  1. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. hand — in cards
  3. race — humankind
  4. file — a document
  5. capital — a city
  6. race — the arms race
  7. band — a music group
  8. march — music
  9. prune — to trim
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. file — a line of people
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. bear — the animal
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. capital — money
  16. race — a contest
  17. bear — to put up with
  18. march — the month
  19. march — the month
  20. bear — the animal
  21. hand — help
  22. file — a tool
  23. band — a ring
  24. hand — part of the body

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