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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: capital · spring · tear · drill · stock · shower · root · suit

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  4. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. When will it ________________ you to start?
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  18. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. tear — from crying
  3. suit — in cards
  4. root — of a word
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. drill — the tool
  7. spring — the season
  8. tear — from crying
  9. drill — army training
  10. spring — of water
  11. suit — to fit
  12. shower — to wash
  13. drill — a practice
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. suit — clothes
  16. capital — money
  17. root — of a plant
  18. stock — goods
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. spring — a coil
  21. root — the cause
  22. tear — to rip
  23. stock — shares
  24. shower — rain

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