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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: capital · march · file · scale · cold · arm · land · trunk

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. My father caught me by the ________________.
  21. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. scale — in music
  4. capital — money
  5. march — the month
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. capital — a city
  8. land — a country
  9. march — music
  10. arm — a part of something
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. land — to come down
  13. file — a document
  14. file — a line of people
  15. scale — size or range
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. march — the month
  18. cold — not warm
  19. cold — an illness
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. trunk — of a car
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. file — a tool
  24. land — ground

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