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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: capital · trunk · pitch · hand · chest · face · kick · tube

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  24. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. chest — of your body
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. face — to confront
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. face — part of the head
  8. face — to point toward
  9. tube — in a tire
  10. hand — help
  11. capital — money
  12. chest — of your body
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. kick — a thrill
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. chest — a box
  17. pitch — completely
  18. hand — in cards
  19. tube — the underground
  20. tube — a container
  21. pitch — a sports field
  22. kick — in football
  23. kick — with a leg
  24. pitch — a sales talk

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