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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: fall · bowl · rush · prune · capital · cell · pass · spell

  1. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  18. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  19. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. That must've been a ________________.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. bowl — to roll
  3. rush — hurry
  4. rush — to hurry
  5. fall — to drop
  6. bowl — a football final
  7. spell — a short time
  8. cell — in biology
  9. spell — letters
  10. fall — the season
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. cell — a phone
  13. fall — to drop
  14. prune — to trim
  15. capital — money
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. pass — to succeed
  18. pass — a permit
  19. pass — to spend time
  20. capital — a city
  21. rush — a thrill
  22. prune — to trim
  23. spell — magic
  24. prune — the fruit

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