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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 · squash · last

  1. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. Have you met the new head ________________?
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  22. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. squash — to crush
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. stem — of a plant
  7. last — final
  8. coach — pulled by horses
  9. shower — to wash
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. cell — a phone
  14. last — to go on
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. capital — money
  17. shower — rain
  18. last — finally
  19. cell — in biology
  20. kid — to tease
  21. squash — the vegetable
  22. stem — to come from
  23. kid — child
  24. capital — a city

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