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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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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: fine · prune · shower · tear · ground · rest · march · cap

  1. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  13. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  21. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  22. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — all right
  2. shower — to wash
  3. rest — a break
  4. tear — from crying
  5. fine — a penalty
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. ground — the earth
  8. cap — of ice
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. ground — crushed
  11. march — the month
  12. cap — a hat
  13. fine — high quality
  14. prune — to trim
  15. shower — rain
  16. tear — to rip
  17. march — the month
  18. ground — a position
  19. tear — from crying
  20. rest — what's left
  21. cap — a lid
  22. rest — what's left
  23. prune — to trim
  24. march — 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