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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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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: prune · trunk · content · cap · cold · net · chest · fine

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. net — after costs
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. cold — an illness
  6. fine — all right
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. chest — of your body
  9. cap — of ice
  10. chest — a box
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. cap — a lid
  13. content — happy
  14. cold — not warm
  15. net — for catching
  16. net — in sport
  17. prune — to trim
  18. cap — a hat
  19. prune — to trim
  20. content — the amount
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. fine — a penalty
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. fine — high quality

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