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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 · bulb · drill · mate · rush · stem · shower · cold

  1. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  2. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. That must've been a ________________.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  14. I've got to change the light ________________.
  15. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. The light ________________ burned out.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  23. Have you found your soul ________________?
  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 big letter
  2. mate — to breed
  3. stem — to come from
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. rush — hurry
  6. mate — a friend
  7. shower — to wash
  8. rush — a thrill
  9. drill — army training
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. shower — rain
  12. cold — not warm
  13. capital — a city
  14. bulb — for light
  15. bulb — of a plant
  16. capital — money
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. bulb — for light
  19. cold — an illness
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. drill — the tool
  22. stem — a stem cell
  23. mate — a partner
  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