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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: present · pitcher · prune · club · land · cold · bank · shower

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  7. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  8. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  9. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  22. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  23. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. cold — an illness
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. prune — to trim
  6. present — the time now
  7. present — a gift
  8. bank — for money
  9. club — for golf
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. shower — to wash
  14. land — ground
  15. prune — to trim
  16. land — a country
  17. club — a group
  18. shower — rain
  19. present — there
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. club — for dancing
  22. bank — for money
  23. bank — of a river
  24. land — to come down

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