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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: prune · plane · sharp · capital · chest · trunk · stock · land

  1. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. The ________________ took off on time.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  16. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. land — to come down
  3. land — ground
  4. stock — shares
  5. plane — an aircraft
  6. stock — goods
  7. chest — a box
  8. sharp — clever
  9. land — a country
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. chest — of your body
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. capital — a city
  15. trunk — of a tree
  16. plane — a tool
  17. prune — to trim
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. plane — in geometry
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. chest — of your body
  23. capital — money
  24. prune — to trim

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