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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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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: lean · prune · capital · march · clip · squash · chest · object

  1. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  7. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  8. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  9. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  21. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. capital — a city
  3. object — to protest
  4. march — the month
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. object — an aim
  7. object — a thing
  8. lean — to rest against
  9. lean — to bend
  10. clip — for paper
  11. prune — to trim
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. clip — to cut
  14. prune — to trim
  15. chest — of your body
  16. squash — to crush
  17. clip — a video
  18. chest — of your body
  19. march — the month
  20. lean — thin
  21. squash — the vegetable
  22. capital — money
  23. squash — the sport
  24. march — music

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