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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: shower · prune · ground · drill · mate · bark · last · bound

  1. Have you found your soul ________________?
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. That was ________________ to happen.
  18. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. last — final
  3. mate — a friend
  4. prune — to trim
  5. bound — obliged
  6. shower — to wash
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. prune — to trim
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. drill — army training
  12. bark — to shout
  13. drill — a practice
  14. ground — the earth
  15. shower — rain
  16. last — finally
  17. bound — certain
  18. bound — tied together
  19. drill — the tool
  20. last — to go on
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. ground — a position
  23. mate — to breed
  24. ground — crushed

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