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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: cold · ball · arm · trunk · capital · hide · squash · stick

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  9. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  10. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  11. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. The King held a masked ________________.
  17. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  18. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  19. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. My father caught me by the ________________.
  22. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. capital — money
  3. ball — a great time
  4. capital — a city
  5. arm — a part of something
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. squash — the sport
  8. stick — a piece of wood
  9. stick — a piece of wood
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. cold — an illness
  13. squash — to crush
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. ball — a dance
  17. stick — to attach or keep to
  18. hide — animal skin
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. squash — the vegetable
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. cold — the Cold War

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