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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 116 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: trunk · cold · capital · content · can · dip · pit · field

  1. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  2. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  5. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  6. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  19. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  20. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of an elephant
  2. trunk — of a tree
  3. capital — a city
  4. dip — a sauce
  5. can — a tin
  6. can — a tin
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. field — farmland
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. pit — in a race
  11. content — happy
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. capital — money
  14. pit — a fruit stone
  15. content — the amount
  16. field — a subject
  17. field — for sport
  18. pit — a hole
  19. can — to be able to
  20. dip — to sink
  21. cold — an illness
  22. cold — not warm
  23. dip — to dunk
  24. cold — the Cold War

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