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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 116 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 · bat · chip · capital · prune · band · fan · leaves

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  9. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  12. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  21. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. capital — money
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. prune — to trim
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. chip — to eat
  7. bat — the animal
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. leaves — to go away
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. chip — for betting
  12. fan — to cool the air
  13. band — a music group
  14. leaves — lets stay
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. capital — a city
  17. chip — in a computer
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. shower — rain
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. leaves — of a tree
  22. prune — to trim
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. band — a ring

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