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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: pitcher · court · capital · last · scale · root · chest · trunk

  1. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — for weighing
  2. court — of a king
  3. court — of law
  4. root — of a plant
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. capital — a city
  10. scale — size or range
  11. last — to go on
  12. capital — money
  13. last — finally
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. scale — in music
  16. court — for sport
  17. chest — of your body
  18. chest — a box
  19. last — final
  20. chest — of your body
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. root — of a word
  24. root — the cause

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