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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: club · mine · snap · shower · capital · cold · mouse · stem

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  8. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  19. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  22. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. stem — to come from
  3. cold — not warm
  4. shower — to wash
  5. club — a group
  6. capital — money
  7. club — for dancing
  8. mouse — the animal
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. shower — rain
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. mine — for digging
  18. stem — of a plant
  19. mouse — for a computer
  20. snap — to click
  21. club — for golf
  22. mouse — the animal
  23. capital — a city
  24. mine — belonging to me

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