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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: cold · capital · board · rule · trunk · chest

  1. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  18. ________________ games are popular in Germany.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. rule — government
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. capital — money
  5. board — to get on
  6. cold — not warm
  7. chest — of your body
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. capital — a city
  10. cold — an illness
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. board — a committee
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. chest — a box
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. rule — a law
  18. board — a flat piece

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