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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: fan · spring · content · trunk · roll · branch · shower · object

  1. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  2. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  5. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  6. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. We're on a ________________ here.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  22. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. object — an aim
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. spring — the season
  4. fan — to cool the air
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. object — to protest
  7. spring — of water
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. spring — a coil
  11. shower — rain
  12. roll — a list
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. branch — of a tree
  15. content — happy
  16. branch — a division
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. content — the amount
  19. roll — on a roll
  20. shower — to wash
  21. object — a thing
  22. roll — a cake
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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