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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: chip · chest · wax · cold · capital · tube · trunk · face

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  3. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  4. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  15. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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 tree
  3. face — to point toward
  4. tube — in a tire
  5. tube — the underground
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. face — to confront
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. chip — for betting
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. wax — to grow
  13. cold — an illness
  14. chip — in a computer
  15. trunk — of an elephant
  16. chest — of your body
  17. capital — a city
  18. chest — a box
  19. wax — for sculpting
  20. tube — a container
  21. chip — to eat
  22. cold — not warm
  23. face — part of the head
  24. capital — money

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