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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: hand · leaves · squash · capital · cold · foot · race · prune

  1. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  4. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  15. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  16. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. leaves — to go away
  2. hand — help
  3. foot — a measure
  4. squash — the sport
  5. race — a contest
  6. prune — to trim
  7. squash — to crush
  8. cold — an illness
  9. leaves — lets stay
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. capital — money
  13. capital — a city
  14. squash — the vegetable
  15. leaves — of a tree
  16. foot — the bottom
  17. prune — to trim
  18. foot — part of the body
  19. race — humankind
  20. cold — not warm
  21. hand — in cards
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. race — the arms race
  24. cold — the Cold War

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