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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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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: chest · prune · chip · tear · capital · squash · staff · wound

  1. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  5. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. capital — money
  3. chest — of your body
  4. chip — in a computer
  5. chip — to eat
  6. wound — an injury
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. chest — a box
  9. staff — employees
  10. tear — from crying
  11. wound — an injury
  12. squash — to crush
  13. tear — from crying
  14. chest — of your body
  15. tear — to rip
  16. staff — a stick
  17. prune — to trim
  18. capital — a city
  19. squash — the sport
  20. chip — for betting
  21. prune — to trim
  22. squash — the vegetable
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. capital — a big letter

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