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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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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: shower · cell · stem · coach · capital · kid

  1. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. Have you met the new head ________________?
  10. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a big letter
  2. stem — to come from
  3. kid — child
  4. shower — to wash
  5. stem — a stem cell
  6. cell — a phone
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. cell — in biology
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. stem — of a plant
  11. shower — rain
  12. kid — to tease
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. capital — money
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. capital — a city
  18. coach — pulled by horses

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