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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: drill · content · shower · plane · cold · chip · prune · tear

  1. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. The ________________ took off on time.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  15. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. prune — to trim
  3. cold — an illness
  4. content — happy
  5. content — the amount
  6. chip — in a computer
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. chip — to eat
  9. tear — from crying
  10. tear — from crying
  11. drill — army training
  12. plane — an aircraft
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. chip — for betting
  15. plane — in geometry
  16. shower — to wash
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. drill — a practice
  19. shower — rain
  20. drill — the tool
  21. plane — a tool
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. cold — not warm
  24. prune — to trim

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