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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: face · wound · nail · capital · pop · chest · wind · prune

  1. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. You don't need to ________________ round.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. The ________________ went through the wall.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. face — to confront
  3. wound — an injury
  4. capital — a city
  5. capital — money
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. prune — to trim
  8. chest — of your body
  9. pop — to visit
  10. wind — moving air
  11. pop — music
  12. wind — moving air
  13. face — part of the head
  14. prune — to trim
  15. chest — a box
  16. wound — an injury
  17. pop — soda
  18. nail — for a hammer
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. nail — on a finger
  22. face — to point toward
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. chest — of your 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