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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 · field · date · pop · wake · prune · scale · lean

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. We're almost out of ________________.
  5. Have you settled on a ________________?
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  11. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  17. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  20. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  21. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. pop — to visit
  3. field — a subject
  4. pop — soda
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. shower — rain
  7. wake — a trail
  8. wake — to stop sleeping
  9. field — for sport
  10. lean — to bend
  11. wake — before a funeral
  12. scale — size or range
  13. prune — to trim
  14. lean — to rest against
  15. field — farmland
  16. pop — music
  17. lean — thin
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. prune — to trim
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. date — the fruit
  22. scale — in music
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. scale — for weighing

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