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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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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  5. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. Have you settled on a ________________?
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  15. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  16. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  17. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. prune — to trim
  3. shower — rain
  4. date — the fruit
  5. bass — low music
  6. content — happy
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. band — a music group
  10. prune — to trim
  11. track — a song
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. content — the amount
  14. track — to keep track
  15. bass — the instrument
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. track — a path
  18. field — a subject
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. field — farmland
  22. band — a ring
  23. field — for sport
  24. bass — the fish

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