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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: ground · track · roll · cold · prune · fall · capital · coach

  1. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. Have you met the new head ________________?
  9. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  24. We're on a ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. fall — to drop
  3. ground — the earth
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. capital — money
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. prune — to trim
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. track — to keep track
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. cold — not warm
  12. ground — a position
  13. track — a path
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. cold — an illness
  16. roll — a cake
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. prune — to trim
  19. fall — the season
  20. capital — a city
  21. track — a song
  22. fall — to drop
  23. roll — a list
  24. roll — on a roll

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