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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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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 · kid · rule · cabinet · fan · wound · row · capital

  1. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  6. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. What do you think of the new ________________?
  10. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  15. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  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. row — a quarrel
  2. kid — to tease
  3. wound — an injury
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. rule — government
  7. kid — child
  8. prune — to trim
  9. cabinet — ministers
  10. cabinet — ministers
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. cabinet — a cupboard
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. fan — to cool the air
  16. row — to paddle
  17. prune — to trim
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. row — a line
  21. rule — a law
  22. wound — an injury
  23. capital — a city
  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