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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: spell · prune · dip · stem · shower · mine · field · tear

  1. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  17. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  18. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. How do you ________________ your surname?
  21. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. dip — a sauce
  3. field — farmland
  4. tear — from crying
  5. spell — a short time
  6. field — a subject
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. mine — for digging
  9. field — for sport
  10. prune — to trim
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. stem — of a plant
  13. tear — to rip
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. prune — to trim
  16. dip — to sink
  17. stem — to come from
  18. spell — magic
  19. tear — from crying
  20. spell — letters
  21. dip — to dunk
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. shower — to wash
  24. shower — rain

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