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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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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: cell · chair · cold · trunk · root · capital · ruler · stock

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. The ________________ market has crashed.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. ruler — a monarch
  4. cell — in biology
  5. trunk — of an elephant
  6. cell — a phone
  7. stock — goods
  8. capital — a city
  9. ruler — for measuring
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. stock — shares
  13. cold — not warm
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. ruler — for measuring
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. root — of a plant
  20. capital — money
  21. root — the cause
  22. cold — an illness
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. root — of a word

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