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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: content · coach · shower · prune · cold · rock · band · clip

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  4. Have you met the new head ________________?
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  17. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. shower — to wash
  3. rock — a stone
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. prune — to trim
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. cold — not warm
  8. rock — music
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. clip — to cut
  12. rock — to move gently
  13. clip — for paper
  14. clip — a video
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. coach — pulled by horses
  18. shower — rain
  19. band — a music group
  20. band — a ring
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. content — happy
  23. content — the amount
  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