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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: march · drill · capital · fan · cap · shower

  1. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  4. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  14. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — of ice
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. cap — a lid
  4. cap — a hat
  5. march — music
  6. shower — to wash
  7. shower — rain
  8. drill — the tool
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. march — the month
  11. drill — army training
  12. march — the month
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. fan — to cool the air
  15. drill — a practice
  16. capital — money
  17. capital — a city
  18. shower — a meteor shower

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