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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: fall · temple · chair · squash · tear · shower · branch · spring

  1. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  11. When was this ________________ built?
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  24. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.

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

Answer key

  1. temple — a place of worship
  2. tear — from crying
  3. temple — side of the head
  4. spring — of water
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. shower — rain
  7. fall — to drop
  8. tear — from crying
  9. spring — the season
  10. squash — to crush
  11. temple — a place of worship
  12. fall — the season
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. branch — a division
  17. fall — to drop
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. shower — to wash
  20. spring — a coil
  21. tear — to rip
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. squash — the sport
  24. chair — a leader

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