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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: club · sharp · kid · snap · race · prune · chest · capital

  1. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  23. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. capital — money
  5. prune — to trim
  6. chest — of your body
  7. capital — a city
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. chest — of your body
  10. chest — a box
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. prune — to trim
  13. race — a contest
  14. club — a group
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. race — the arms race
  17. club — for dancing
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. sharp — clever
  20. kid — child
  21. kid — to tease
  22. sharp — with an edge
  23. snap — to click
  24. race — humankind

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