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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. My mare is ________________ in color.
  2. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  23. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bay — a horse colour
  2. bay — a part of the sea
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. shower — to wash
  5. prune — to trim
  6. wound — an injury
  7. ground — a position
  8. ground — the earth
  9. ground — crushed
  10. branch — of a tree
  11. hand — help
  12. hand — in cards
  13. prune — to trim
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. branch — a division
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. tube — the underground
  18. shower — rain
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. tube — a container
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. tube — in a tire
  23. bay — to keep at bay
  24. wound — an injury

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