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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: bass · hand · arm · capital · tear · fall · bear · trunk

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  4. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  5. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  16. My father caught me by the ________________.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  24. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. trunk — of an elephant
  4. bear — to put up with
  5. bass — the fish
  6. bass — low music
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. capital — a city
  9. tear — from crying
  10. capital — money
  11. bear — the animal
  12. fall — to drop
  13. fall — to drop
  14. tear — from crying
  15. bass — the instrument
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. arm — a part of something
  19. tear — to rip
  20. hand — in cards
  21. fall — the season
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. bear — the animal
  24. arm — part of the body

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