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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: trunk · cold · land · can · pop · vault · capital · kid

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. We're almost out of ________________.
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  11. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. You don't need to ________________ round.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. can — a tin
  3. capital — a city
  4. pop — soda
  5. pop — music
  6. cold — not warm
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. vault — an arched ceiling
  9. kid — child
  10. can — a tin
  11. vault — in gymnastics
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. pop — to visit
  15. land — a country
  16. cold — an illness
  17. land — to come down
  18. capital — money
  19. can — to be able to
  20. kid — to tease
  21. vault — a safe
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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