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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: tear · cue · hand · coach · capital · drill · kid · spell

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. Have you met the new head ________________?
  15. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  16. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  17. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  23. How do you ________________ your surname?
  24. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. cue — a signal
  3. capital — money
  4. drill — the tool
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. tear — to rip
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. spell — magic
  9. hand — in cards
  10. hand — help
  11. kid — child
  12. drill — army training
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. cue — a hint
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. cue — for pool
  18. tear — from crying
  19. kid — to tease
  20. tear — from crying
  21. spell — a short time
  22. coach — pulled by horses
  23. spell — letters
  24. drill — a practice

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