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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 · snap · branch · mouse · spring · pitcher · roll · march

  1. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  6. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  7. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. He is an ace ________________.
  10. We're on a ________________ here.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  20. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. mouse — for a computer
  3. branch — a division
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. mouse — the animal
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. roll — a cake
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. pitcher — in baseball
  10. roll — on a roll
  11. shower — rain
  12. march — music
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. spring — of water
  16. spring — the season
  17. march — the month
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. mouse — the animal
  20. roll — a list
  21. spring — a coil
  22. shower — to wash
  23. branch — of a tree
  24. march — the month

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