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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: season · chest · trunk · wind · lash · bat · capital · pitcher

  1. He is an ace ________________.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  12. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — in baseball
  2. capital — money
  3. bat — the animal
  4. wind — moving air
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. chest — a box
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. lash — to lash out
  12. lash — an eyelash
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. season — in sport
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. season — of the year
  17. chest — of your body
  18. chest — of your body
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. capital — a city
  21. lash — a whip stroke
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. trunk — of a car
  24. wind — moving air

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