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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 120 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: trunk · wind · capital · craft · chest · swing

  1. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  10. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. capital — money
  3. wind — moving air
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. chest — a box
  7. craft — a skill
  8. swing — in golf
  9. craft — boats
  10. swing — music
  11. swing — to play on
  12. wind — moving air
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. craft — a handicraft
  16. capital — a city
  17. chest — of your body
  18. trunk — of a tree

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