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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 116 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: present · pop · fork · capital · tear · prune · lash · spring

  1. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. We're almost out of ________________.
  10. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  15. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — a garden tool
  2. prune — to trim
  3. present — the time now
  4. spring — the season
  5. capital — a city
  6. lash — to lash out
  7. spring — of water
  8. tear — to rip
  9. pop — soda
  10. present — a gift
  11. capital — money
  12. pop — music
  13. tear — from crying
  14. present — there
  15. lash — an eyelash
  16. tear — from crying
  17. fork — to eat with
  18. prune — to trim
  19. lash — a whip stroke
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. fork — in a road
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. spring — a coil
  24. pop — to visit

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