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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: cabinet · sharp · trunk · capital · cold · bark · pitcher · bat

  1. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  2. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  20. What do you think of the new ________________?
  21. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — a cupboard
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. capital — a city
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. cabinet — ministers
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. capital — money
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. bark — to shout
  15. cold — not warm
  16. cold — an illness
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. sharp — clever
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. trunk — of a car
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. bat — the animal
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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