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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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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 · row · shower · wind · arm · prune · stem · cell

  1. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. My father caught me by the ________________.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  19. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. wind — moving air
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. shower — to wash
  5. row — to paddle
  6. cell — in biology
  7. arm — a part of something
  8. cell — a phone
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. stem — of a plant
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. shower — rain
  15. row — a line
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. drill — a practice
  18. drill — army training
  19. stem — to come from
  20. wind — moving air
  21. prune — to trim
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. drill — the tool

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