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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: land · stock · hand · bark · prune · toast · spring · capital

  1. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. land — a country
  3. capital — money
  4. land — ground
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. toast — a drink to someone
  7. spring — a coil
  8. prune — to trim
  9. stock — shares
  10. bark — to shout
  11. hand — help
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. toast — bread
  14. spring — the season
  15. capital — a city
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. hand — in cards
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. prune — to trim
  20. land — to come down
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. toast — the most admired
  23. stock — goods
  24. spring — of water

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