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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 · capital · chest · can · prune · tear · row · plane

  1. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  7. The ________________ took off on time.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  10. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  20. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. row — a line
  3. chest — of your body
  4. capital — money
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. can — to be able to
  7. plane — an aircraft
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. can — a tin
  10. plane — a tool
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. tear — from crying
  13. tear — to rip
  14. row — to paddle
  15. tear — from crying
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. capital — a city
  18. prune — to trim
  19. chest — of your body
  20. can — a tin
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. plane — in geometry
  24. chest — a box

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