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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: cell · chair · cold · trunk · root · capital

  1. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  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. cell — in biology
  2. capital — money
  3. capital — a city
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. chair — a leader
  6. root — of a word
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. cold — an illness
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. cold — not warm
  11. root — the cause
  12. cell — a phone
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. root — of a plant
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. cold — the Cold War
  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