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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. We're almost out of ________________.
  7. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. You don't need to ________________ round.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — the fruit
  2. shower — rain
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. shower — to wash
  5. pop — music
  6. pop — soda
  7. wax — to grow
  8. tear — from crying
  9. cold — not warm
  10. tear — from crying
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. tear — to rip
  13. prune — to trim
  14. pop — to visit
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. cold — an illness
  17. prune — to trim
  18. shower — a meteor shower

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