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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: chest · cold · cabinet · mark · capital · prune

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. What do you think of the new ________________?
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  9. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. chest — a box
  4. cabinet — a cupboard
  5. prune — to trim
  6. cold — not warm
  7. capital — money
  8. cabinet — ministers
  9. mark — a grade
  10. cold — an illness
  11. mark — a trace
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. prune — to trim
  14. mark — to pay attention
  15. capital — a city
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. chest — of your body

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