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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: capital · coach · drill · cold · rule · stock

  1. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The ________________ market has crashed.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. Have you met the new head ________________?
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. rule — government
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. stock — shares
  6. capital — money
  7. drill — a practice
  8. rule — to rule out
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. drill — the tool
  11. stock — goods
  12. rule — a law
  13. drill — army training
  14. cold — an illness
  15. capital — a city
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. cold — not warm
  18. coach — a trainer

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