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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: tear · chest · lash · file · prune · row · capital · chair

  1. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. lash — a whip stroke
  3. tear — from crying
  4. prune — to trim
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. capital — a city
  7. tear — from crying
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. row — to paddle
  10. file — a line of people
  11. chair — a leader
  12. lash — to lash out
  13. chest — of your body
  14. tear — to rip
  15. chest — a box
  16. lash — an eyelash
  17. prune — to trim
  18. row — a line
  19. file — a tool
  20. chest — of your body
  21. file — a document
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. chair — a professorship
  24. capital — money

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