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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: drill · pop · kid · capital · rash · land · prune · lean

  1. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  8. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  9. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. We're almost out of ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  17. You don't need to ________________ round.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. Don't do anything ________________.
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  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. lean — to bend
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. drill — army training
  4. kid — to tease
  5. land — to come down
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. rash — a series
  8. pop — music
  9. lean — thin
  10. land — ground
  11. kid — child
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. prune — to trim
  14. prune — to trim
  15. pop — soda
  16. lean — to rest against
  17. pop — to visit
  18. land — a country
  19. capital — a city
  20. rash — hasty
  21. drill — the tool
  22. capital — money
  23. drill — a practice
  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