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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: bay · capital · wind · cap · trunk · cell

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  4. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  5. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  6. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. My mare is ________________ in color.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. trunk — of an elephant
  4. cap — a hat
  5. cap — of ice
  6. bay — to keep at bay
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. cell — a phone
  9. bay — a horse colour
  10. cap — a lid
  11. cell — in biology
  12. trunk — of a car
  13. wind — moving air
  14. wind — moving air
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. bay — a part of the sea
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. capital — money

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