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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: trunk · swing · bank · bat · capital · degree · object · lash

  1. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  12. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  13. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  14. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  19. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  20. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. capital — a city
  4. trunk — of a tree
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. capital — money
  7. degree — from a university
  8. swing — in golf
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. swing — to play on
  11. object — to protest
  12. lash — an eyelash
  13. object — a thing
  14. bank — of a river
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. bank — for money
  17. degree — temperature
  18. lash — to lash out
  19. lash — a whip stroke
  20. object — an aim
  21. bat — the animal
  22. bank — for money
  23. swing — music
  24. degree — an amount

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