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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: field · wound · fan · stem · chest · capital · staff · trunk

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  14. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  17. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  18. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  19. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  20. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. wound — an injury
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. capital — money
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. field — farmland
  7. wound — an injury
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. chest — of your body
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. staff — employees
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. staff — a stick
  17. stem — to come from
  18. staff — employees
  19. stem — of a plant
  20. fan — to cool the air
  21. chest — of your body
  22. field — for sport
  23. chest — a box
  24. capital — a city

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