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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 · mate · prune · branch · trunk · pop · content · band

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. Have you found your soul ________________?
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. You don't need to ________________ round.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. shower — rain
  3. trunk — of an elephant
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. pop — soda
  6. shower — to wash
  7. mate — a partner
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. prune — to trim
  10. mate — a friend
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. branch — a division
  14. band — a music group
  15. prune — to trim
  16. pop — to visit
  17. band — a ring
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. content — the amount
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. mate — to breed
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. pop — music

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