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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 116 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: ruler · fork · hand · cell · ground · capital · bat · prune

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  10. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  11. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. capital — a city
  3. hand — in cards
  4. ground — a position
  5. ground — crushed
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. cell — in biology
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. fork — in a road
  10. ruler — for measuring
  11. ruler — a monarch
  12. prune — to trim
  13. capital — money
  14. bat — the animal
  15. ground — the earth
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. prune — to trim
  18. cell — a phone
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. ruler — for measuring
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. fork — to eat with
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. fork — a garden tool

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