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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: mug · capital · trunk · kid · arm · cold · vault · date

  1. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  2. Have you settled on a ________________?
  3. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  4. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  11. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  17. My father caught me by the ________________.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Where did you ________________ them?
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  24. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. mug — a face
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. vault — in gymnastics
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. kid — child
  10. trunk — of an elephant
  11. mug — a cup
  12. cold — an illness
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. vault — an arched ceiling
  15. kid — to tease
  16. arm — a part of something
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. capital — money
  19. vault — a safe
  20. cold — not warm
  21. mug — to rob
  22. capital — a city
  23. date — the fruit
  24. date — on the calendar

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