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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 120 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: shower · cold · stock · calf · rule · spring · last · coach

  1. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. Have you met the new head ________________?
  3. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  12. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  22. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  23. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. rule — to rule out
  4. cold — not warm
  5. spring — the season
  6. rule — government
  7. spring — a coil
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. stock — goods
  10. cold — an illness
  11. calf — a young animal
  12. rule — a law
  13. spring — of water
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. last — final
  17. last — to go on
  18. stock — shares
  19. shower — rain
  20. last — finally
  21. calf — of the leg
  22. stock — a soup base
  23. calf — a young animal
  24. shower — to wash

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